Marin County House Price Adjusted by Income for the Years 1969 to 2004

The following graph plots the ratio of the average price of a house and per capita income for Marin County for the years spanning 1969 to 2004, inclusive. The green line shows the upper bound while the red line shows the lower bound.

(Click on the image for a larger view.)

This ratio (price/income) is basically a measure of housing affordability in Marin; the larger the ratio, the less affordable.

Just for fun... given the mean income of the average Marin resident as of 2004 (the last year for which I have complete data), how far would house prices need to fall so as to achieve maximum affordability based on the historical trend line for Marin (the red line)? Well, the calculated price/income ratio of roughly 13.1 for 2004 corresponds to a projected maximum affordability ratio of about 9.25 on that red line. To achieve that point the average house price in Marin would have to drop by approximately 30%.