Affordable Luxury Homes

Thinking of buying a high-end house in, let's say, San Francisco? BusinessWeek's latest reading shows that luxury housing is extremely expensive in San Francisco and many other markets -- even in comparison to the generous incomes of the kind of people who buy pricey homes in those areas.

Luxury homes are most expensive in relation to top-range incomes in San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Orange County, Calif., according to the BusinessWeek Luxury Housing Affordability Index, based on first-quarter data. On the East Coast, New York and Miami are nearly as expensive. Boston, Washington, and Seattle are just a little behind. At the other extreme, high-end homes are still affordable to wealthy buyers in such cities as Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis.