Department of Numbers

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Cleveland, Ohio Home Affordability

The data below measures home affordability for the Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, Ohio 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 Cleveland home affordability to other cities.

Cleveland, Ohio Home Price-to-Income Ratios

The current price-to-income ratio for Cleveland is 2.17 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 Cleveland HPI series. Median household income data for Cleveland 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

Cleveland, Ohio Home Price-to-Income Ratio History

Date Realtor
(Dollar Ratio)		 FHFA
(Index Ratio)
March 2014 2.17 —
December 2013 2.40 91.8
September 2013 2.71 92.2
June 2013 2.61 91.0
March 2013 2.15 90.6
December 2012 2.34 91.3
September 2012 2.34 91.4
June 2012 2.34 90.2

Cleveland, Ohio Home Price-to-Rent Ratios

The current adjusted price-to-rent ratio for Cleveland is 12.01 as determined by March 2014 Realtor median sales prices. This ratio is calculated using household size adjusted median contract rent for Cleveland. The chart below shows an index of the rent ratio calculated from the metro FHFA HPI series and the Cleveland 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

Cleveland, Ohio Home Price-to-Rent Ratio History

Date Realtor
(Dollar Ratio)		 Realtor Adjusted
(Dollar Ratio)		 FHFA
(Index Ratio)
March 2014 14.06 12.01 —
December 2013 15.54 13.26 78.3
September 2013 17.49 14.93 78.6
June 2013 16.90 14.43 77.6
March 2013 13.91 11.88 77.3
December 2012 15.15 12.94 77.9
September 2012 15.15 12.94 78.0
June 2012 15.15 12.94 77.0

Cleveland, Ohio Home Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Ratio

The rent-to-mortgage payment ratio uses the adjusted rent for Cleveland 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 Cleveland was 1.4 in March 2014.

Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Dollar Ratio: Realtor

Cleveland, Ohio Home Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Ratio History

Date Realtor Adjusted Rent
(Dollar Ratio)
March 2014 1.40
December 2013 1.25
September 2013 1.10
June 2013 1.20
March 2013 1.55
December 2012 1.46
September 2012 1.43
June 2012 1.40

Cleveland, Ohio Inferred Affordable Mortgage

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

Cleveland, Ohio Inferred Affordable Mortgage History

Date Inferred Mortgage
February 2014 $237,152
January 2014 $233,536
December 2013 $232,713
November 2013 $238,282
October 2013 $240,278
September 2013 $231,894
August 2013 $232,713
July 2013 $235,194
June 2013 $243,758
May 2013 $260,059
April 2013 $262,986
March 2013 $259,095
February 2013 $260,382

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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