A new report from Trulia reveals that the number of starter homes on the market in the Bay Area has increased in the second quarter compared to last year. Oakland saw a 10.9 percent increase (768 homes available), while San Jose rose 24.1 percent (722 homes), and San Francisco was up 26.1 percent (389 homes). 

The report notes, however, that traditional first-time buyers — defined as those in the lower third of the income bracket — could face difficulty when purchasing because of the significant amount of their income required for mortgages. For those buyers, 60.5 percent of their income would go toward meeting mortgages on starter homes in the Oakland metro area, 78.4 percent would be required for the San Jose metro area, and a mind-boggling 99.6 percent would be needed in the San Francisco metro area.

According to Trulia, the current median price of a starter home in the Oakland metro area is $286,300, while the San Jose metro area comes in at $445,667, and San Francisco tops out the trio at $535,823. 

The hopeful news for the Bay Area is that the market’s movement toward more affordable housing is beating out the national trend. Housing supply nationwide has steadily diminished over the last nine quarters, with starter homes seeing a decrease of 15.6 percent in the second quarter.