CBIA: Sacramento housing more affordable

The Sacramento region jumped 20 spots in a ranking of the nation's most affordable housing markets for the fourth quarter, even as affordability rose in California and the nation.

That's according to the California Building Industry Association, which released the data Thursday. The association said the average priced home in the region is affordable to 79.3 percent of families in Sacramento, up 3 percentage points from the third quarter. That makes the region 103rd in the ranking of least affordable markets. The New York region was the country's least affordable market.

Yuba and Sutter counties became California's most-affordable market with 90.3 percent affordability, up from 83.7 percent in the third quarter.

On a statewide basis, a family earning the median income could have afforded 62.9 percent of the new and existing homes that were sold during the fourth quarter, up slightly from 61.1 percent in the third quarter.

Mike Winn, CBIA's president and chief executive officer, said this was good news for consumers.

"Clearly, this is a great time to buy a home for those who qualify," Winn said. "The winter selling season is typically a little slower, but as the spring selling season begins, we expect to see prices firming up a bit as they did in several California markets last year."