CAPITAL REGION — Finding affordable housing is becoming harder as real estate prices rise in the Capital Region, according to a new state report.

Second-home purchases in the rural counties north and south of the Schenectady-Albany-Troy area are among reasons prices are higher, even as inner cities continue to struggle with difficult housing issues, the report found.

“Housing affordability was the common issue raised at each of the region’s focus group meetings,” states the Capital District Regional Report prepared by the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal.

The report is part of an unprecedented series of nine reports being written by the housing agency on regional trends around the state, to be used in developing future state housing policies.

“I don’t want to sit in Albany and tell these communities what they need. This is the start of a conversation,” Deborah VanAmerongen, the state housing commissioner, said in an interview.

The report looks at housing trends in Albany, Schenectady, Saratoga, Rensselaer, Warren, Washington, Greene and Columbia counties.

Focus groups met in each county last spring. That was recent enough that participants were aware of impacts on housing prices from the national mortgage crisis, VanAmerongen said.

Based on comments, there’s a concern that high-tech jobs brought in by the Tech Valley economic development initiatives will push housing prices higher, to the detriment of people needing low- and moderate-income housing.

“The influx of people with higher income levels is going to push up housing prices and rentals,” VanAmerongen said.

Particularly in Saratoga and Warren counties, people from outside the region are also buying second or seasonal homes, paying prices that make housing less affordable for year-round residents.

Since the 2001 terrorist attacks, “people from New York City are interested in buying houses in the Hudson Valley, and even up into the northern part of the valley,” VanAmerongen said.

Figures compiled by the Capital District Regional Planning Commission show the leading areas for in-migration to the Capital Region are New York City and Suffolk County.

The split between high-income seasonal residents driving up prices in areas where year-round residents have lower wages was even more pronounced in an earlier report that focused on the Adirondacks and North Country, VanAmerongen said.

According to the report, the median value of an owner-occupied house in the Capital Region rose from $103,624 in 2000 to $172,758 in 2006 — about 67 percent.

The price trend was most dramatic in Saratoga and Warren counties.

The median household income for the region, meanwhile, rose 22 percent, from $43,130 to $52,566.

VanAmerongen said that points to a need to help people with working-class jobs.

“We’ve always had programs for low-income people, but we are needing to develop more programs for work force housing,” VanAmerongen said.

Jason Kemper, the Saratoga County planning director, said affordable housing is an issue in some parts of the county, but second-home purchases and speculation associated with Tech Valley and the Luther Forest Technology Campus aren’t the only reasons.

Low taxes and good schools also attract people to communities in Saratoga County, and that pressures housing prices higher, he noted.

“This isn’t something that started in the last two years,” Kemper said. “Other counties are losing population and Saratoga County is gaining population.”

While there’s upward price pressure in Saratoga and other rural areas, the state report notes the struggles of Schenectady, Albany and Troy.

“Each of the Tri-Cities has much lower home ownership rates and higher poverty levels than found in the balance of their respective counties,” the report states. “The Tri-Cities have higher vacancy rates, an abundance of abandoned buildings and impoverished neighborhoods.”

Rocco Ferraro, executive director of the Capital District Regional Planning Commission, said state policy needs to encourage investment in the housing in the cities.

“There needs to be opportunities to rehabilitate housing for low- and moderate-income housing before they end up being demolished,” Ferraro said.

Housing that remains vacant for long deteriorates from lack of maintenance, he said, and absentee landlords are less likely to care about the quality of tenants they rent to.

The recent increase in gasoline prices could provide an opportunity for redevelopment in the cities, if the existing quality of life issues can be addressed, Ferraro said.

“It makes it more difficult in terms of a commute. I think a more close-in environment is more favorable,” he said.

The series of reports on housing around the state will be completed early next year, and the Division of Housing and Community Renewal will then begin considering new policies, VanAmerongen said.