[quote=SDEngineer] ….BTW, median prices have never been as low as 3-4x individual incomes in San Diego – about the lowest they get is about 6.5x individual, or about 4x household income. There really is a “sunshine tax”, and it’s pretty well historically documented.[/quote]
SDE, I’d say that median price / median household income is a better measure of affordability over long periods. It makes no sense to compare the per capita ratio in the 1950’s when almost all households had only one income to the per capita ratio today when households have mostly two incomes. I’d be interested to see a long history of the household ratio, and the ratio in 1997 would definitely be less than 6.75, the recent low point of the SD per capita measure. Even that would be higher, I’d guess, than the ratio in the 1960’s and earlier.
