The salary needed to buy a median-priced Portland-area home jumped by nearly $1,100 in the first three months of the year.

A household now needs to earn at least $60,307.71 to buy a median-priced home in the Portland area, according to mortgage-tracking website HSH.com. Its analysis includes the average metro mortgage rate, which was virtually unchanged at 4.57 percent, and property taxes.

But the major cause of the jump was rising home prices. The median-priced home in the Portland area was $271,900 in the first quarter, up 1.64 percent from the quarter prior.

That puts Portland among the eighth most expensive among the 27 metros included in the report.

But it remains relatively affordable among west-coast cities. In Seattle, a household needs to earn $73,851.06 to buy a median-priced home. In San Francisco it takes a whopping $137,129.55.

-- Elliot Njus