Department of Numbers

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Phoenix, Arizona Home Affordability

The data below measures home affordability for the Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, Arizona metropolitan area using price-to-income and price-to-rent metrics.1 The maximum affordable loan amount for the median household income is also calculated. You can also compare Phoenix home affordability to other cities.

Phoenix, Arizona Home Price-to-Income Ratios

The current price-to-income ratio for Phoenix is 3.78 as determined by March 2014 Realtor median sales prices. The second chart shows a history of the ratio as an index calculated from the Federal Housing Finance Agency's Phoenix HPI series. Median household income data for Phoenix is from the Census American Community Survey.

Price-to-Income Dollar Ratio: Realtor

Price-to-Income Index Ratio: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Phoenix, Arizona Home Price-to-Income Ratio History

Date Realtor
(Dollar Ratio)		 FHFA
(Index Ratio)
March 2014 3.78 —
December 2013 3.75 129.7
September 2013 3.73 125.0
June 2013 3.57 119.9
March 2013 3.29 113.5
December 2012 2.87 109.8
September 2012 2.87 105.5
June 2012 2.87 100.7

Phoenix, Arizona Home Price-to-Rent Ratios

The current adjusted price-to-rent ratio for Phoenix is 21.04 as determined by March 2014 Realtor median sales prices. This ratio is calculated using household size adjusted median contract rent for Phoenix. The chart below shows an index of the rent ratio calculated from the metro FHFA HPI series and the Phoenix median contract rent data from the Census ACS.

Price-to-Rent Dollar Ratio: Realtor, Realtor Adjusted Rent

Price-to-Rent Index Ratio: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Phoenix, Arizona Home Price-to-Rent Ratio History

Date Realtor
(Dollar Ratio)		 Realtor Adjusted
(Dollar Ratio)		 FHFA
(Index Ratio)
March 2014 20.73 21.04 —
December 2013 20.56 20.86 110.7
September 2013 20.45 20.75 106.7
June 2013 19.56 19.84 102.4
March 2013 18.03 18.30 96.9
December 2012 15.75 15.98 93.7
September 2012 15.75 15.98 90.1
June 2012 15.75 15.98 85.9

Phoenix, Arizona Home Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Ratio

The rent-to-mortgage payment ratio uses the adjusted rent for Phoenix against a 100% loan-to-value mortgage (30-year fixed) for the median price home using Realtor home sales statistics. It's a lot like a cap rate, but I find it more appealing in ratio form. A ratio of 1.0 means that annual rent is equivalent annual mortgage payments. Values less than 1.0 indicate rents are cheaper and values greater than 1.0 mean mortgage payments are cheaper. Beware, taxes are not considered here. The rent-to-mortgage payment ratio for Phoenix was 0.8 in March 2014.

Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Dollar Ratio: Realtor

Phoenix, Arizona Home Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Ratio History

Date Realtor Adjusted Rent
(Dollar Ratio)
March 2014 0.80
December 2013 0.79
September 2013 0.79
June 2013 0.87
March 2013 1.01
December 2012 1.18
September 2012 1.16
June 2012 1.14

Phoenix, Arizona Inferred Affordable Mortgage

The inferred affordable mortgage value is determined by taking the median household income for Phoenix, Arizona and calculating the mortgage 30% of that income could afford. Traditionally, 30% of income is the maximum amount a homeowner could use towards a home loan. Inferred affordable loan values are calculated from ACS median household income and average monthly mortgage rates.

Inferred Affordable Mortgage

Phoenix, Arizona Inferred Affordable Mortgage History

Date Inferred Mortgage
February 2014 $259,456
January 2014 $255,499
December 2013 $254,599
November 2013 $260,692
October 2013 $262,876
September 2013 $253,704
August 2013 $254,599
July 2013 $257,314
June 2013 $266,683
May 2013 $284,518
April 2013 $287,720
March 2013 $283,462
February 2013 $284,871

1. Specifically, home prices are from the non seasonally adjusted FHFA all-transactions quarterly series. Dollar ratios are calculated using NAR metro prices when available. Rent and income data are from the Census ACS and are carried forward into the following year prior to release of the new data. ↩

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