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CHAPTER V. HOUSING MARKET!, CONDITION' AND DEMAND! This chapter of the housing study discusses housing supply factors, current market conditions, and need and demand for housing. A basic feature of any urban community is that of its housing composition. This is so commonly understood that people often make general inferences about the community and its inhabitants by examining its stock of housing. .For example, it is recognized that the homeowners and renters living in diverse areas in the community lead considerably different lives. The controlling factor in living arrangements is that of family finance~, for the amount of shelter a household can afford impacts the size, quality and location of the unit they may seek to purchase or rent. Santa'Ana's housing composition reflects the above-listed housing factors. The City is increasingly experiencing a series of housing problems which take their root in inadequate levels of income to purchase the necessary shelter commodity. These problems fall into several categories. The first is that of a growing disparity in terms of the location of high- and low- valued dwellings. It appears that Santa Aha, with a sizable portion of its housing, is in fact increasing its percentage share of the County's low-valued units. It is also not receiv- ing counterbalancing increases in units to the higher side of the price spectrum. There'is, thus, an increasing rift with Santa Aha and other communities in Orange County in terms of housing valuation. The second problem being faced'here is that of an increase in the number of overcrowded dwellings. Often families with low shelter budgets cannot find adequately-sized units in the£r price range. This situation results in many of them being forced into cramped and overcrowded living conditions. In Santa Ana,'it is interesting and important to note that the City, with the largest percentage distribution of the County's overcrowded units also holds one of the largest proportions of low-valued units in the County. This situation has also tended to intensify existing disparities between cities in more than Just the field of housing. Another important condition to consider, but concerns new home construction, is that of a rising gap between household income and the price of new housing~ The median selling price of a new single-family tract home rose nearly 90 one that 000060