Updated at 4:30 p.m.

St. Louis is an affordable place to own a house, just not as affordable as it used to be.

That’s the upshot from a new report by RealtyTrac on home affordability trends nationwide. The study found affordability declining in the St. Louis region as home prices rise faster than paychecks.

The report listed St. Louis County among large counties that recently fell below its historic level of affordability dating to 2005, before the housing boom busted.

RealtyTrac, a real estate website specializing in distressed property, gauges affordability by the percentage of a county’s average wages needed to make the payments on a median-priced house.

In St. Louis County, the median sale price of a home grew 11 percent over the past year, by RealtyTrac’s estimate, while income grew only 1 percent. As a result, it became harder to afford a home in the metro area’s biggest county. The same thing happened in other local counties.