New York City and its surrounding suburbs may arguable offer some of the best recreation, culture, education and heathcare in the nation. But residents pay a significant price for that quality of life.

The New York metro area–from the five boroughs north to Westchester County, NY and across the Hudson River to New Jersey–is the least affordable major housing market, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) released yesterday. This is the first time a major housing market outside of California was designated the least affordable since the index was launched in 1991.

The index measures the percentage of homes that would be affordable to a family earning the median income in a given area. In the New York market, that share is low. Families earning the New York area median income of $63,000 could afford just 11.4 percent of the new and existing homes sold in the second quarter this year.

Nationwide, homes became more affordable for the third consecutive quarter. President Sandy Dunn, a builder from Point Pleasant, WV, said 55 percent of all new and existing homes sold nationwide during the second quarter were affordable to families earning the national median income of $61,500. Although there was a marginal rise in mortgage rates, the rates are still relatively low. In addition, he said, family income held steady while housing prices generally declined.

Indianapolis, where 91.6 percent of homes sold in the second quarter were affordable to families earning the area’s median household income of $65,100, kept the title as the most affordable major US housing market for the 12th consecutive time. Other affordable major metro areas include the Youngstown, OH area, metro Detroit and Grand Rapids, MI.

One smaller metro market–defined as an area with fewer than 500,000 people–was even more affordable than Indianapolis. In Canton-Massillon, OH, 96.7 percent of all homes sold in the second quarter were affordable to families earning that area’s median household income of $54,600.

But it wasn’t as easy for families in other areas to buy homes. In addition to metro New York, housing affordability was low in the San Francisco area, Los Angeles-Long Beach, the Miami area and more NYC suburbs, Long Island’s Nassau and Suffolk counties.

Among metro areas with less than 500,000 people, the five markets at the bottom of the affordability chart were San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA; Ocean City, NJ; Napa, CA; Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA; and Salinas, CA, respectively.

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