1 post tagged “mortgage”
Newly released Census Bureau studies show that more than half of Sonoma County's cash-strapped homeowners have been spending more than a third of their monthly household income on their mortgage payments.
Local news reports outline that the Census Bureau's annual release of housing data indicate that these figures have risen from 38% of homeowners paying more than a third of their income, back in 1999.
The market peak of 2005 most certainly made for record numbers of Petaluma would-be-homeowners rushing into spiraling mortgage payments in an effort to jump into the housing market before it became completely unattainable.
Since then the unsustainable housing boom has brought prices down as much as 13% in this area, with a median home price for Sonoma County currently down 9.3% from its 2005 peak, to a considerably more affordable $575,000.
Still a far cry from the old adage of spending no more than a third of a household's monthly income on home mortgage payments, and yet, our resident real estate expert believes, when prices finally do stabilize, prospective buyers in the Petaluma area will have a greater opportunity to save a decent down payment, thus avoiding the calamity witnessed in the most recent wave of local foreclosures.
"It's not all bad news, as the mainstream media would have it," says Timo. "When Petaluma home prices gradually are perceived to have settled these steadier conditions will be much more secure for the average local homeowner
