my mortgage is a reasonable $4000/month!

Do you live in an expensive city?

Forget coffee when it's time to sober up. Instead, check out the real estate listings in New York or Los Angeles.

There, buyers pay $1 million for a property that might fetch half that elsewhere. The disparity illustrates how affordability has been spiraling out of control in places on the East and West coasts.

For example, in the first quarter of 2001, 42.3% of homes sold in Los
Angeles were available to the median earning household. But in the irst quarter of 2007, only 3% of homes sold there were affordable to those households earning the median income. This is based on data from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Wells Fargo that assumes a 10% down payment, a 6.1% mortgage, and tax and insurance costs calculated by the Federal Housing Finance Board.

Housing prices may be going down, but it's becoming increasingly difficult to secure a loan. Pretty soon, only celebrities will be able to afford to live in Los Angeles. Perhaps that's how they want it.

Here are the top ten "least affordable markets":

01. L.A.
02. San Francisco
03. San Diego
04. New York
05. Miami
06. Sacramento
07. Las Vegas
08. Seattle
09. Boston
10. Orlando

If you're wanting to live in one of these cities, you may want to check out this list. Med school looks awfully inviting, doesn't it?