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10 least affordable cities to buy a home

Looking to buy a home? You may want to skip these places. Prices are either so high or incomes so low that many families can't afford to buy homes here, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index.

San Jose

gallery least affordable housing san jose
  • Median home price: $530,000
  • Median income: $105,000
  • % of homes that are affordable: 46.2%

As it has done in San Francisco, the tech industry has brought explosive growth -- and big paychecks -- to the San Jose metro area.

The population has boomed here as Silicon Valley firms continue to hire tech talent. All those well-paid techies have money to spend on everything, including housing, which has boosted prices for everyone.

Another factor adding to the sky-high prices: The area is hemmed in by the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, limiting where developers can build. That drives up land prices, helping to make the housing market one of the nation's most expensive.

Source: National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index
*The percentage of new and existing homes sold in that metro area that families earning the area's median income can afford based on standard mortgage underwriting criteria.
  @CNNMoney - Last updated November 29 2012 02:02 PM ET

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