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out of the new housing market due to a variety of increased housing costs'. By 1970 standards, it would have taken a family income of $15,010 to purchase a home selling at $33,800,~the median price of a new single family home offered for sale that year. Since median family income that year was $12,800, approximately 50 percent of the County's families would have met this annual wage requirement and would have qualified for a new home pur- chase. In 1974, the median price for a new home had risen to $55,500, ~hile median income rose to about $15,061. In 1974, an income of about $27,651 was needed to qualify for this new $55,500 home, an income considerably above the median. Accord- ing to the tables in this 6hapter, it is estimated that les.s than 20 percent of the County's households earn that much annually. Th~ previous discussion indicates that people are being priced out of. the housing market due'to the unequal rise in median income versus that of the rise in cost of acquiring a median-priced new home. The price range of new single-family tract housing has also moved upward, removing those with previously middle incomes from the group of prospective buyers. As illustrated by the data in Chapter V, no new homes were being constructed in 1960 for the group annually earning $4,560 and under. ' V~ry few units were offered to families in the $4,561 to $5,320 income group. Therefore, even if those in this income bracket, about 30 percent of all families, wished to buy new homes, there were none in their price range unless they chose to pay an extraordinarily large proportion of their incomes for housing. They did, however, have alterna- tives: (1) looking for a cheaper used home, (2) renting a dwelling, (3) saving for higher than the standard ten percent down payment, or (4) continuing in'their present abode. With a low family income, the third possibility was undoubtedly remote, thus forcing these families into older, cheaper units which were probably on the downward turn toward deterioration. This situation intensified by 1974 when only one new home for under $30,000 was built, and about half the households in Orange County had difficulty in finding a new home in their price range. This situation had a direct bearing on the increase in the number of overcrowded units found in the County between 1960 and 1974. Many low-income families could not find adequately-sized shelters in their affordable price ranges and were, therefore, forced to live in cramped, less expensive quarters. Because of the high monthly cost of home ownership and the declining buyer market, the building trade has responded by increasing the number of relatively low-cost PUD units being 000074.