While S.F. prices rise, housing becoming less affordable all over the nation | South Salem NY Homes

San Francisco is not alone in demanding housing prices that present economic challenges—if not outright hardship—to its residents.

According to The Demand Institute, home prices will rise an average of 2.1% annually each year from 2015 to 2018, which indicates a healthy increase: real estate will no longer be tanking in the USA, and that increase would (in an ideal economy) line up decently with increased income. But like all averages, that figure obscures major differences between one area and the next.

The Demand Institute began studying developments in the U.S. housing market three years ago. Its latest report shows analysis of “2,200 cities, towns, and villages that are home to half the population of the U.S.” The Institute posits that “The home is often a family’s single most valuable and visible economic asset, and housing in a community is a reliable gauge of its prosperity.”

Yet prosperity is a relative term because wealth is concentrated unevenly in American towns and cities.

http://blog.sfgate.com/ontheblock/2014/02/28/while-s-f-prices-rise-housing-becoming-less-affordable-all-over-the-nation/