Buffalo most affordable metro area, L.A. least affordable.

THE BUFFALO AND NIAGARA FALLS, NEW York, MSA was the nation's most-affordable housing market among major metros with populations of more than 500,000 during the second quarter, according to a survey produced jointly by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), Washington, D.C., and Wells

The quarterly NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) noted that nearly 90 percent of the new and existing homes sold in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls metro area during the second quarter were affordable to families making the area's median income of $57,000. The area median price of homes was $75,000.

Overall housing affordability across the United States fell for the second consecutive quarter, down 4.2 points to 45.9 on the HOI--meaning that approximately 46 percent of new and existing homes sold in the second quarter were affordable to median-income families.

"This decline was mostly attributable to a 7 percent gain in the average price of homes sold in the year's second quarter versus the first quarter," the survey noted.

The Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, California, metro area was the country's least-affordable major metro with 500,000 or more people, as 3.6 percent of all homes sold were affordable to those making the median income of $54,500 when the median sales price was $461,000.

California remained the least-affordable state overall, with eight of the 10 metros on the least-affordable list among markets with more than 500,000 people and nine of the 10 metros on the list for markets of less than 500,000 people.

Meanwhile, Ohio scored the greatest number of major MSAs on the top-10 affordable list with four metros--Dayton, Youngstown, Toledo and Akron. Ohio also had three of the 10 most-affordable metro areas with populations of less than 500,000, including Mansfield, Lima and the metro area comprising the towns of Canton and Massillon, the study noted.