REAL ESTATE : O.C. Housing Isn’t the Most Costly but It’s in the Running

The good news is that Orange County isn’t the most expensive place in the nation when it comes to housing costs as a percentage of income. That honor belongs to San Francisco.

The bad news is that Orange County is among the top 10--No. 7 to be exact.

A new study by Ernst & Young, the giant accounting and consulting firm, found that housing is more affordable in the United States than at any time in the past decade or so--largely because of lower interest rates and the predominance of smaller, lower-cost homes being turned out by home builders who are trying to stay in business in a recession.

The study looks at the cost of owning a four-bedroom home or renting a two-bedroom luxury apartment as a percentage of the average take-home pay in 70 cities across the United States and Canada.

In San Francisco, the least affordable place on that map, housing costs eat up 49.6% of a median family’s take-home income of $41,307, the accounting firm’s Real Estate Advisory Services division reported. The survey uses different income figures for each region.

Honolulu followed at 48.6% of a $45,406 take-home income; then Los Angeles at 40.6% of $36,039; New York City at 36.2% of $32,417; the Oakland-East Bay area of Northern California, at 35% of $42,048; San Diego at 34.8% of $35,776, and Orange County at 34.3% of $46,655.

Rounding out the top 10 were San Jose, 34% of $49,087; Boston, 31.4% of $42,278, and Miami, Fla., 30.7% of $27,401.

California has six of the 10 most expensive areas and none of the least expensive--most of which are in the Midwest.