[pjschlic]

This sounded interesting, do you have a link to this study? I was going to try to do this analysis for where I live, and after looking up median income for the area, I realized I wasn't sure what you meant by 'down payment and interest consume 100% of income.' Did you mean a 20% downpayment and interest on a loan would consume one year's worth of income... because that actually seems pretty cheap if a median income in my area was enough more than the 20% down payment for a median home in my area that it could also cover the interest for year...

Had you meant 3% + 1% PMI + 4% interest for an FHA consume 100% on median, because that definitely implies either high prices on houses or low median incomes.

[wnissen]

It's not really a study, just the slightly more than back of the envelope calculation that you're sketching out. The census records median household income, check for a typical rate, and in the Bay Area at least, you get a huge fraction.