Lima, Ohio, Tops Survey of Home Prices : Housing: Midwestern city is the most affordable market, while San Francisco is the least.

WASHINGTON —  Lima, Ohio, and San Francisco are divided by three-fourths of a continent, and the difference between the ability of their citizens to buy a home is just as wide.

The National Assn. of Home Builders reported Wednesday that Lima was at the top of its Housing Opportunity Index during the July-September quarter. San Francisco was at the bottom.

The index measures the proportion of homes sold in a market that a household earning the median income in that market could afford to buy. The median is the midpoint, meaning that half the homes cost more and half cost less.

As in other surveys in recent years, the most affordable markets were primarily in the Midwest and South. The least affordable were in the West, particularly California, and the Northeast.

In fact, 15 of the 25 most affordable markets were in the Midwest. Five more were in the Northeast and five were in the South.

Fourteen of the least affordable markets were in California and one each was in Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico and Oregon. Four more were in the Northeast and three were in the South.

The survey included 500,000 sales of new and previously owned homes in 185 metropolitan areas.

“There’s no doubt that higher interest rates are affecting housing affordability conditions in every region of the country,” said association President Tommy Thompson, an Owensboro, Ky., builder. “But rates are still in the single digits, making affordability relatively healthy.”

Interest rates rose to 7.72% in the third quarter from 7.42% in the second. The rate is a national, weighted average of adjustable and fixed-rate loans.

But rising rates have recently begun to slow the housing market by boosting borrowing costs. Purchases of new homes in November fell for the first time in five months, while sales of previously owned homes plunged to the lowest level in 17 months.

Lima, which was the 11th-most affordable market in the second quarter, posted an 87.4 on the third-quarter index. That means a family earning the median income of $38,600 could have purchased 87.4% of the homes sold in the area during the quarter.

San Francisco had a reading of 17.8, meaning a family earning the median of $57,600 could afford to buy just 17.8% of the homes available. San Francisco has been at the bottom of the index since it was created in the first quarter of 1991.

Los Angeles, the 175th-most affordable market, had a 39.5 reading, meaning that a family with the median income of $45,200 could have purchased 39.5% of the homes sold during the quarter.

Besides Lima, the most-affordable markets by region were Albany, N.Y., in the Northeast; Houma, La., in the South, and Pueblo, Colo., in the West.

In addition to San Francisco, the least-affordable by region were Des Moines, Iowa, in the Midwest; New York in the Northeast, and Laredo, Tex., in the South.

The nation as a whole posted a 61.7 on the index, up from 60.0 for the April-June quarter.