kev374, I’m not sure how to answer your question. All I really know is the people I know, and they may not be representative of the aggregates.

Nevertheless, I think what you’re getting at is that the median household income (I know you initially mentioned “individual” incomes, but I’m going to focus on household income here) should be able to afford the median price of a home in the area in question. I’m not sure if this applies well to coastal Southern Calfifornia because in most years (although not in every year) and over the long term, net in-migration has been substantial and demand for housing has historically exceeded supply. So there are a lot of people who bought in a ways back – let’s say pre-2000 – who are in at either bargain or, at worst, reasonable prices relative to their incomes. Although many of these people couldn’t re-purchase their homes today at current market values given their incomes.

Having said all that, I think there should be a RELATIVELY steady RELATIONSHIP between median household income and median home prices, although it wouldn’t surprise me if this ratio creeps up a bit over time in SoCal for reasons that I won’t go into here. Clearly we’re WAY off into uncharted territory where this relationship is concerned, although we’ve begun to creep back in the proper direction toward equilibrium. I’m sure that Rich has all of these stats somewhere.

I don’t think I answered your question but maybe I touched on the issue you were getting at.