Los Angeles has been called one of the least affordable housing markets in the United States. While home prices and rents usually aren't as ridiculous as they are in the Bay Area and New York, the gap between what people make and what they can afford is often greatest here.

The California Association of Realtors this week had a little good news for us, though. Buying a home in L.A. was a little less unaffordable in the quarter of 2014.

But it's still unaffordable. 

The association says that 28 percent of Angelenos can now afford a median-priced home in this city, compared to 25 percent, or one in four of us, during the previous quarter. Hey, that's progress.

That median price, by the way, is $450,880. The household income it would take to be able to afford the $2,280 monthly payment on that, including taxes and insurance, is $91,300.

In greater L.A. the numbers get better: About 34 percent of us can afford the median home price of $414,040, the association says. That's up from 32 percent of the population being able to afford a house in the third quarter. It would take a household income of $83,840 to get there.

The per capita individual income in L.A. County is $27,749, and the median household income here is $55,909, by the way.

Credit: CAR

Credit: CAR

Statewide affordability was up, too. Now 31 percent of Golden State residents can afford a median home, compared to 30 percent the previous quarter, according the association's report.

Los Angeles was one of the counties that “saw the greatest quarter-to-quarter improvement in housing affordability due to price declines,” the California Association of Realtors states.

San Francisco was the least affordable housing market in the state, according to the report. Only 14 percent of residents can afford to buy a median priced home ($962,390) there. Whew.

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