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This section of Department of Numbers is no longer being updated and may be removed in the future. The data here is out of date and should no longer be used.

Maryland Home Affordability

The data below quantifies Maryland home affordability by using home prices and home price indices to calculate price-to-income and price-to-rent ratios.1 The maximum affordable loan amount for the median household income is also calculated. You can also compare Maryland home affordability to other states.

Maryland Home Price-to-Income Ratios

The home price-to-income ratio for Maryland comes from the Federal Housing Finance Agency's relatively new state median price series and their purchase only index combined with Maryland annual median household income data. The FHFA home price series yields a dollar ratio (top chart) while the index results in an index ratio (bottom chart). Based on the latest FHFA state home prices in June 2010, the price-to-income ratio for Maryland was 4.00.

Home Price-to-Income Dollar Ratio: FHFA

Chart of Maryland home price-to-income ratio using FHFA median price

Home Price-to-Income Index Ratio: FHFA

Chart of Maryland home price-to-income ratio using FHFA HPI

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Maryland Home Price-to-Income Ratio History

Date FHFA
(Dollar Ratio)
FHFA
(Index Ratio)
December 2013 146.7
September 2013 146.7
June 2013 145.0
March 2013 142.2
December 2012 139.1
September 2012 137.1
June 2012 138.5
March 2012 131.7
December 2011 140.2
September 2011 139.3

Maryland Home Price-to-Rent Ratios

The price-to-rent ratio for Maryland is determined for both the FHFA median price and the purchase only index by calculating a ratio with the median contract rent. The price-to-adjusted rent value takes into account CPS reported household size to attempt to correct for quality differences in renter and owner occupied homes. More on that process here. Again, the median price ratio is a dollar ratio and the HPI ratio is an index ratio defined to be 100 in Q1 2000. The adjusted price-to-rent ratio for Maryland was 19.89 in June 2010.

Home Price-to-Rent Dollar Ratio: FHFA, FHFA Adjusted Rent

Chart of Maryland home price-to-rent ratio using FHFA median price

Home Price-to-Rent Index Ratio: FHFA

Chart of Maryland home price-to-rent ratio using FHFA HPI

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Maryland Home Price-to-Rent Ratio History

Date FHFA
(Dollar Ratio)
FHFA Adjusted
(Dollar Ratio)
FHFA
(Index Ratio)
December 2013 115.8
September 2013 115.8
June 2013 114.4
March 2013 112.3
December 2012 109.8
September 2012 108.2
June 2012 109.3
March 2012 103.9
December 2011 109.7

Maryland Inferred Affordable Mortgage

The inferred affordable mortgage is determined by taking the median household income for Maryland 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 median household income and average monthly mortgage rates. The amounts are not adjusted for inflation.

Inferred Affordable Mortgage

Chart of Maryland maximum affordable home loan amount

Maryland Inferred Affordable Mortgage History

Date Inferred Mortgage
February 2014 $362,900
January 2014 $357,366
December 2013 $356,107
November 2013 $364,628
October 2013 $367,683
September 2013 $354,854
August 2013 $356,107
July 2013 $359,904
June 2013 $373,009
May 2013 $397,954
April 2013 $402,432
March 2013 $396,477
February 2013 $398,448

1. Specifically, Home prices are from the FHFA seasonally adjusted, purchase only quarterly series. Rent data is from the Census ACS and income is from the Census CPS. Rent and income data for the previous year is carried into the following year for calculations prior to release of new data.