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Priority: Assist low and moderate income first time homebuyers. Priority Analysis and Obstacles to Meeting Underserved Needs The Alameda County HOME Consortium Housing Needs Analysis documented that a sizable proportion of low income households (80% of AMI) spend over 30% of their incomes on housing costs. Data for Pleasanton echo this statistic, as shown in the preceding Table 2, where it can be seen that 20% of all owner households pay over 30% of their income toward housing, while nearly 9% more pay over 50% of their income. This observation is partly due to the long -term trend of Bay Area household incomes not keeping pace with increasing rental and ownership costs. The gap between median incomes and median home prices is sizable. In 2009, according to HUD, the median household income (for a family of four) for Alameda County is $89,300, while the countywide median home price was $310,000 (DataQuick, 2009). Although this reflects a 37% decrease during the past five years countywide, median home prices in Pleasanton remained stable during the same period and actually saw a 1% increase. Consequently, in spite of a softening housing market, ownership housing has continued to remain relatively out of reach in Pleasanton since a low income household making $89,300 per year can only comfortably afford to purchase a home with sales price of $257,000 or less. As described above, sales prices for homes in Pleasanton are higher than the county average. Recent data on house sales compiled by Bay East Association of Realtors® indicate that the median sales price for single- family homes in Pleasanton was approximately $688,000 in 2009, while the median price for condominiums was $391,000. Trends in average and median house sales prices for the past several years are shown in Table 4: Table 4 Pleasanton House Sales Prices, 2009 Reprinted with permission of the Bay East Association of Realtors July 2009 (www bayeast org) Year Single Family Homes Condominiums Sales Avg. Med. Sales Avg. Med. 2009 270 $893,103 $688,000 77 $480,337 $391,000 (as of July) 2008 270 $1,064,371 $845,000 64 $496,578 $442,500 2007 424 $1,117,938 $872,000 114 $552,100 $550,000 With the high cost of ownership housing, combined with a volatile market for housing financing, it is very difficult for even moderate income households to become homeowners. Initial down payment and closing costs, as well as high on -going mortgage and other costs, are significant barriers to homeownership. High rents in the area make accumulation of initial capital needed even more difficult. First time home buyers, who do not have the equity windfall from the sale of their previous home, face increasing costs. Younger working households are moving further out of the urban areas Strategic Plan FY2010 FY2014 City of Pleasanton Page 13