Per Imman, News; sunny, beachy, perfect weather San Diego CA, knocks off San Francisco CA as nation's LEAST AFFORDABLE CITY

 MARKETS & ECONOMY

This city just beat out San Francisco for the title of 'least affordable'

San Diego has surpassed San Francisco as the most expensive metro area in the United States, according to a new affordability report from real estate technology company OJO Labs

WRITTEN BY BEN VERDE

Today 6:59 A.M.

San Francisco has lost out on the title of the nation’s least affordable city to its neighbor to the south, according to a new analysis.

San Diego has surpassed San Francisco as the most expensive metro area in the United States, according to new affordability report issued Wednesday by real estate tech company OJO Labs.

The report found that San Diego had surpassed both San Francisco and Los Angeles in unaffordability by comparing median home prices to local incomes.

January saw the median price for homes sold in San Diego soar 14.3 percent to $764,000, bringing the city’s unaffordability score — the ratio of home sales price to median household income — to 8:1.

And while San Francisco still boasts some of the most expensive housing in the country, its unaffordability score actually fell below 8 for the first time since OJO Labs began tracking the data in July 2021, falling to 7.9 from 9.2 after the median home sold price fell 4.2 percent in January.

After San Diego and San Francisco, Los Angeles, Mobile, Alabama, Pensacola, Florida, and Boise, Idaho rounded out the reports least affordable cities in the United States.

On the opposite end, Green Bay Wisconsin was found to be the most affordable city in the nation, with the median home sold price at $149,000, an increase of 11.9 percent from the previous year. After Green Bay, Cleveland, Ohio, Buffalo, New York, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Detroit, Michigan, rounded out the most affordable cities.

Austin, Texas, experienced the largest home price increase of any metropolitan area, rising 35.5 percent year over year, according to OJO Labs. Home values in Austin are climbing at double the rate of the national average, according to a report earlier this week from Redfin.

On the national level, the median home sales price continued to rise, at a slower rate, however, than the previous months annual increase of 14.9 percent. It still rose significantly at 10.5 percent compared to the same period in 2021, bringing the national unaffordability score to 4.5, according to OJO Labs.