Department of Numbers

This section of Department of Numbers is no longer being updated and may be removed in the future. The data here is out of date and should no longer be used.

Tucson, Arizona Home Affordability

The data below measures home affordability for the Tucson, 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 Tucson home affordability to other cities.

Tucson, Arizona Home Price-to-Income Ratios

The current price-to-income ratio for Tucson is 3.93 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 Tucson HPI series. Median household income data for Tucson 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

Tucson, Arizona Home Price-to-Income Ratio History

Date Realtor
(Dollar Ratio)		 FHFA
(Index Ratio)
March 2014 3.93 —
December 2013 3.80 111.3
September 2013 3.85 109.8
June 2013 3.84 108.9
March 2013 3.64 106.1
December 2012 3.35 105.8
September 2012 3.35 103.5
June 2012 3.35 101.8

Tucson, Arizona Home Price-to-Rent Ratios

The current adjusted price-to-rent ratio for Tucson is 20.98 as determined by March 2014 Realtor median sales prices. This ratio is calculated using household size adjusted median contract rent for Tucson. The chart below shows an index of the rent ratio calculated from the metro FHFA HPI series and the Tucson 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

Tucson, Arizona Home Price-to-Rent Ratio History

Date Realtor
(Dollar Ratio)		 Realtor Adjusted
(Dollar Ratio)		 FHFA
(Index Ratio)
March 2014 22.29 20.98 —
December 2013 21.59 20.32 98.2
September 2013 21.87 20.59 96.9
June 2013 21.78 20.50 96.1
March 2013 20.65 19.44 93.7
December 2012 19.01 17.90 93.4
September 2012 19.01 17.90 91.3
June 2012 19.01 17.90 89.8

Tucson, Arizona Home Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Ratio

The rent-to-mortgage payment ratio uses the adjusted rent for Tucson 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 Tucson was 0.8 in March 2014.

Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Dollar Ratio: Realtor

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

Date Realtor Adjusted Rent
(Dollar Ratio)
March 2014 0.80
December 2013 0.81
September 2013 0.80
June 2013 0.84
March 2013 0.95
December 2012 1.06
September 2012 1.04
June 2012 1.01

Tucson, Arizona Inferred Affordable Mortgage

The inferred affordable mortgage value is determined by taking the median household income for Tucson, 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

Tucson, Arizona Inferred Affordable Mortgage History

Date Inferred Mortgage
February 2014 $226,129
January 2014 $222,681
December 2013 $221,896
November 2013 $227,206
October 2013 $229,109
September 2013 $221,116
August 2013 $221,896
July 2013 $224,262
June 2013 $232,428
May 2013 $247,972
April 2013 $250,762
March 2013 $247,052
February 2013 $248,279

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. ↩

Data on deptofnumbers.com is for informational purposes only. No warranty or guarantee of accuracy is offered or implied. Contact ben@deptofnumbers.com (or @deptofnumbers on Twitter) if you have any questions, comments or suggestions. Privacy policy.