California Building Industry Association data

For all you Angelenos,, here's a nice chart from the CBIA that clearly shows why you are feeling squeezed (it's a PDF, so make sure you have Adobe Acrobat). Just 10-11 years ago, over 40% of southern California homes were considered affordable for families with a median income. In 2000, the number dropped below 40% and after a weak bounce, has been plummeting down since. It is currently around 4-5%.

Angelenos aren't the only ones squeezed - Riverside had an even steeper fall (from 65-70% down to about 10%). San Diego's graph is roughly comparable to the Los Angeles one.

The national graph starts in the 60% range and declines to just above 40%. There may be a national bubble, but we got a big bubble here.

And here's another CBIA pdf showing November housing starts. In the Los Angeles - Long Beach area, they are clearly down by 19.2% YOY.

Gotta love press releases. The CBIA says,

The slowdown in November will give builders an opportunity to clear out their standing inventory.