NYT: Across Nation, Housing Costs Rise as Burden

[DeepModem Mom]

Across Nation, Housing Costs Rise as Burden
By JANNY SCOTT and RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD
Published: October 3, 2006

The burden of housing costs in nearly every part of the country grew sharply from 2000 to 2005, according to new Census Bureau data being made public today. The numbers vividly illustrate the impact, often distributed unevenly, of the crushing combination of escalating real estate prices and largely stagnant incomes.

While many of the highest home values were on the coasts, in places like Southern California and Manhattan, many of the biggest jumps in the percentage of people paying a burdensome amount of their income for housing occurred in the Midwest and in suburbs nationwide, making it clear that the housing squeeze has reached deep into the middle class.

In New York City, more than half of all renters now spend at least 30 percent of their gross income on housing, a percentage figure commonly seen as a limit of affordability. In Staten Island, the percentage paying at least 30 percent of income rose to nearly 60 percent, up from 40.

Among suburban homeowners, there were big increases in the percentage of people with mortgages spending at least 30 percent in places like Loudon County, Va.; Morgan County, Ind.; Nassau County, on Long Island; and Bastrop County, Tex.

“Housing prices have gone up much more than incomes have,” said Christopher Jones, vice president for research at the Regional Plan Association in New York City. “Clearly, you can’t sustain that sort of imbalance over the long run. There’s only so long that housing prices can go up without sustained increases in income to support them.”...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/03/nyregion/03census.html?ei=5094&en=aee99cfd4b1ef740&hp=&ex=1159934400&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1159851045-ooNFOA7cDoTlISWzhvkIyg

[aquart]

1. ALL costs are rising as a burden.

Food, healthcare, EVERYTHING.

And this government actively makes it worse.

[MadMaddie]

2. I live in the Seattle, WA area and I bought 2 oranges

I say 2 oranges for $2.49 a pound...total $2.99 for two organges.....it's going to get much worse...

[barb162]

3. Yeah I have noticed the food prices really rising

[barb162]

4. i agree with this article except for one thing

A lot of people "overbuy" I think. They go for houses they can barely afford. If they could think "smaller" house, it'd be easier on payments and they'd be a lot better off, not at risk for losing the house. Plus "average" houses have constantly increased in size over the last several decades.

[FormerDem06]

10. A LOT of people overbuy...

I couldn't agree more. A friend of ours moved to the "desirable" part of town. He and his wife got a 2000 sq ft house for almost 300K. We live on a NICE golf course in a "bad" school district. Get this, same town; we moved to a 2500 sq ft house in the same neighborhood that we were all living in before for 227K. The payment for him is 35% of his income because he wanted to go to a more desirable school district (even though his in-laws are forking over 25K a year to send his kids to a private episcopal school). He could have stayed around 25% of his income and gotten the SAME house in our neighborhood for around 210K.

Crazy if you ask me.

[OneBlueSky]

5. my property taxes are about to double thanks to a Mirant bankruptcy . . .

and a court ruling (following a lawsuit) that the company was over-assessed for taxation purposes for several years . . . now the school district, two towns, and the county have to repay a total of $240 million to Mirant by the end of this month . . .

a lot of people, especially the elderly, who have owned their homes for decades are being forced to sell because they can't afford the increase in their taxes . . . all because some judge sided with the company, although they had agreed to the assessments and the tax rates all along . . .

and just recently, the company announced that it will be closing the power plant it operates in my town because they don't want to spend the money on mandated pollution control upgrades . . . it's the largest single ratable in town, so next year's taxes will be going up even more . . .

[NVMojo]

7. where do you live?? This is horrible!

[NVMojo]

6. Aren't they telling us something we have known for 5 years??

At least ...??

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

8. if you live in an area like NYC and surroundings

it's impossible not to spend well over 30% of your monthly salary on rent, unless you want to share with other people. Many apartments in Manhattan require that you make per year at least 40-45 times the rent. A lot of it is also unscupulous landlords trying to increase and pad their profits, knowing that for the majority of New Yorkers buying a place (an average NYC apartment is about $1 million) is out of reach. NY is becoming a place for the very rich or the very poor and, as a result, it's losing its character.

[mom cat]

9. Damn! I grew up in Bastrop County.Those people really can't

afford higher costs in anything. Ouch!

[mainegreen]

11. 30%? Dude, I get cranky because my wife and I are at 18% of gross.

Man, I really am a cheap bastard.