The Boston Federal Reserve Bank’s new community outlook survey has found that availability of affordable housing in the area dropped by 23 points on the bank’s housing index in the last year.

While indicators like financial well-being, job availability and access to credit improved in the first quarter compared with the same period a year ago, the availability of affordable housing and demand for services indexes both declined over the period.

However, the increase in the job availability index was particularly strong, and future expectations for this index are also positive, according to the report. This is in contrast to a weakening in employment growth nationally and in New England since April 2012, and weakening in consumer expectations about unemployment nationally.

Respondents indicated that families financial conditions in recent years have been most affected by job loss and unemployment, house price declines and the effects of the subprime crisis, and public-sector budget cuts.