Garfield housing becoming less and less affordable

The days of Garfield County being the "affordable housing stock" for Pitkin County could be coming to a close. A recently released study by the Garfield County Building & Planning Department shows that the median income household cannot afford the median priced home in the county.

While wages have risen 18 percent between 1999 and 2005, prices for single-family homes have jumped 48 percent, putting them out of reach for many.

Out of the 809 units listed for sale in Garfield County in October 2005, 43 percent are priced at or above $500,000. Most of those homes are in Glenwood Springs and Carbondale, but every community in the county has homes for sale at that price.

Today, a family earning 120 percent of the AMI, or $68,280 annually, cannot afford the average price of a single-family home in Glenwood Springs, which in 2005 was $325,000, or Carbondale, where a single-family home averaged $395,000.

Currently, a family earning less than the area median income cannot not afford a home in New Castle or Silt.

Read the full article in the Post Independent . . .