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Columbus, Ohio Home Affordability

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

Columbus, Ohio Home Price-to-Income Ratios

The current price-to-income ratio for Columbus is 2.52 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 Columbus HPI series. Median household income data for Columbus 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

Columbus, Ohio Home Price-to-Income Ratio History

Columbus, Ohio Home Price-to-Rent Ratios

The current adjusted price-to-rent ratio for Columbus is 15.78 as determined by March 2014 Realtor median sales prices. This ratio is calculated using household size adjusted median contract rent for Columbus. The chart below shows an index of the rent ratio calculated from the metro FHFA HPI series and the Columbus 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

Columbus, Ohio Home Price-to-Rent Ratio History

Columbus, Ohio Home Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Ratio

The rent-to-mortgage payment ratio uses the adjusted rent for Columbus 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 Columbus was 1.06 in March 2014.

Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Dollar Ratio: Realtor

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

Columbus, Ohio Inferred Affordable Mortgage

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

Columbus, Ohio Inferred Affordable Mortgage History