by James McClister

Starter homes in the Greater Miami area remain affordable relative to most of the country, but not for most of its residents – and it’s only getting worse.

That was the finding of a very interesting new study from Trulia, which assessed the status of starter homes in a housing market that is growing increasingly pricey and unaffordable.

Here in Greater Miami, the median list price for starter homes is currently $152,317, and requires 51.6 percent of the typical starter buyers’ income to purchase – which, as our below table shows, compares well to places like Los Angeles and San Francisco, where buyers might end up spending more than they even make on a home. But when we look at how Miami’s starter home price has risen (17.2 percent since the same time last year), New York, LA and San Francisco start to look less like favorable comparisons and more like warnings of what’s to come – especially when considering that wages and incomes continue to remain flat for most prospective buyers of starter homes.

Starter homes in peril?

The small 0.1 percent increase in Miami’s starter-home inventory is better than a decrease, which was recorded in several markets. But still, affordable homes are not being built in Miami, and with the way prices have been rising contrary to swelling inventories and falling demand – and with mortgage rates increasing nationwide – it stands to reason that the number of homes affordable to the typical starter-home buyer is only going to get less and less.

See our chart below for a deeper look at the starter home market: