The West lsn't the E

A RECENT spate of stories has been documentFllng the still rising cost of home ownership. In the last l2 years, for example, median family income rose 734/o, but the rnedian sales price of a new home rose l447o and average monthly housing expenses jumped 799%, according to the National Association of Home Builders.

The apparent conclusion to the numbers is purportedly clear: the cost of housing is rising faster than family income, therefore, the theory goes, fewer homes will be built, less lumber used, etc. The typical cost of a home in the West is up to $53.000, far rnore than any other region in the country, a statistic likely to encourage local pessimists.

We think some people are missing a few important points. The medium income of Westerners buying homes is several thousand dollars more than their counterparts in other U.S. regions. They are also far richer. A U.S. League of Savings Assns.' survey shows that home buyers in the West had a net worth of $49.000 comoared to $29,100 for the South, $28,000 for the Northeasr and $22,400 in the North Central region.

The point to remember here, as inflation takes astits vicious toll, is that as the cost of housing has risen, so have the other numbers for the West in terms of income and net worth. As one moved up, so did the other. We must all be careful not to apply the statistics based on national fact gathering and apply them to the West or to regions within the West.

This is a unique market and one that is a mass of contradictions, at least to some Eastern eyes. Demand here is strong. So is income and earning power and, just as importantly, the still brightlyburning belief in the Anrerican dream. Our cities are not old and decaying. The West is still the most vibrant and dynamic part of our country.

As the ambitious and hard working have moved West, in search of that classical Something Better, they have brought into play an atmosphere that has confounded the traditional bean counters who just can't figure out why things can be so strong as you lift up and point West from the plains of the Central States and head up over the Rockies.

It's enough to make you wonder if the poets who care more for spirit aren't one up on the economists with their dreary nunrbers.