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1 y = <br /> 009 <br /> the public housing, and had to be paid from other Town sources. A <br /> Low Income Housing Tax Credit project would be difficult to develop <br /> with high off-site costs of utility extensions without substantial <br /> local subsidy to complement the Tax Credits . <br /> Availability of land and utility capacity does limit future <br /> production of affordable rental housing in northern Orange County; <br /> however, such development may be furthered limited by the over 100 <br /> units of rental housing currently proposed to be built using Low <br /> Income Housing Tax Credits. Until those units are completed and <br /> occupied, additional construction of rental housing will be <br /> deterred by market absorption. However, the majority of those <br /> units will be 2-bedroom, furthering the need for appropriate sized <br /> housing for larger families. Also, the proposed units will be <br /> affordable to low-income families, but the need for rental units <br /> for very low-income families is still unmet in the northern Orange <br /> County market area. No loss of assisted rental stock is <br /> anticipated in Orange County within the next five years. <br /> Homeownership Market. Orange County has the highest cost of <br /> new housing development in North Carolina. The average new home <br /> sales price in 1991 was $143,577 . To afford this new home, a <br /> family would have to earn in excess of $60, 000, or nearly 160% of <br /> the area median income. In Chapel Hill, the 1991 average new <br /> single-family home sales price was $165,082, which could be <br /> purchased by a family with an income of at least $68,000 . Among <br /> cities statewide, the average new home sales price is $125, 500. <br /> Single-family houses in the Chapel Hill/Orange County market <br /> at $90,000 or below are fairly scarce. A family at 80% of the area <br /> median, or $32 ,548, can afford a mortgage payment of approximately <br /> $650, or a mortgage of about $75,000. Even with a large down <br /> payment, the available housing in Chapel Hill and Carrboro is <br /> beyond the reach of low-income families. <br /> Homeownership assistance efforts undertaken by the Town of <br /> Chapel Hill have resulted in housing being developed that is <br /> affordable to families with 70% to 80% of the area median income, <br /> with second mortgages from the Town, assistance from the County, <br /> and special first mortgages from the N.C. Housing Finance Agency. <br /> With such high costs of development, producing new homeownership <br /> opportunities will be impossible without assistance from local <br /> governments. <br /> In addition to new construction, existing low-income <br /> homeowners continue to need assistance in order to rehabilitate and <br /> maintain their homes. The Census estimates that 38% ( 14 , 910) of <br /> the housing stock in Orange County is over thirty years old, and <br /> many of those units are owned by low- and fixed-income individuals <br /> who cannot afford rehabilitation. Particularly in Carrboro, and <br /> the Northside and Pine Knolls neighborhoods in Chapel Hill, and <br /> certain parts of rural Orange County, rehabilitation is a viable <br /> 6 <br />