San Diego Second Most Expensive in Nation to Buy a House

San Diego may be America’s Finest City, but it also ranks as one of the most expensive for buying a house, too.

San Diego is the second most-expensive metro city in California and in the U.S. overall for buying a median-priced house, according to one new study.

A new study by HSH, the largest publisher of mortgage and consumer loan information, ranks 27 metropolitan cities by how high of a salary a resident would need to be able to afford a median-priced home.

In San Diego, a median-priced home costs $517,800 at a mortgage rate of 4.28 percent. To be able to afford such a home with principal, interest, taxes and insurance payments, the buyer would need to earn an annual salary of $101,682.60. That equals out to monthly payments of $2,372.59 – and those prices have increased since last year.

Those numbers are still second to San Francisco’s housing market, which takes the cake for highest salary needed for a median-priced home in the nation.

In the Bay Area, buyers need to earn $145,361.06 annually to be able to afford the median-priced home at $744,400. Monthly payments on a home that price are $3,391.76, even after a quarterly decline in required salary.

Los Angeles ranks third on the list with a salary of $96,513.64 needed for a median-priced home of $481,900, with New York City and Boston close behind.

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