Department of Numbers

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Dallas, Texas Home Affordability

The data below measures home affordability for the Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas 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 Dallas home affordability to other cities.

Dallas, Texas Home Price-to-Income Ratios

The current price-to-income ratio for Dallas is 3.07 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 Dallas HPI series. Median household income data for Dallas 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

Dallas, Texas Home Price-to-Income Ratio History

Date Realtor
(Dollar Ratio)		 FHFA
(Index Ratio)
March 2014 3.07 —
December 2013 3.05 116.5
September 2013 3.18 115.2
June 2013 3.19 113.0
March 2013 2.82 110.0
December 2012 2.80 109.1
September 2012 2.80 107.7
June 2012 2.80 106.9

Dallas, Texas Home Price-to-Rent Ratios

The current adjusted price-to-rent ratio for Dallas is 17.39 as determined by March 2014 Realtor median sales prices. This ratio is calculated using household size adjusted median contract rent for Dallas. The chart below shows an index of the rent ratio calculated from the metro FHFA HPI series and the Dallas 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

Dallas, Texas Home Price-to-Rent Ratio History

Date Realtor
(Dollar Ratio)		 Realtor Adjusted
(Dollar Ratio)		 FHFA
(Index Ratio)
March 2014 19.87 17.39 —
December 2013 19.77 17.30 107.7
September 2013 20.61 18.04 106.4
June 2013 20.67 18.08 104.4
March 2013 18.24 15.96 101.7
December 2012 18.11 15.85 100.8
September 2012 18.11 15.85 99.5
June 2012 18.11 15.85 98.8

Dallas, Texas Home Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Ratio

The rent-to-mortgage payment ratio uses the adjusted rent for Dallas 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 Dallas was 0.96 in March 2014.

Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Dollar Ratio: Realtor

Dallas, Texas Home Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Ratio History

Date Realtor Adjusted Rent
(Dollar Ratio)
March 2014 0.96
December 2013 0.96
September 2013 0.91
June 2013 0.96
March 2013 1.15
December 2012 1.19
September 2012 1.17
June 2012 1.15

Dallas, Texas Inferred Affordable Mortgage

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

Dallas, Texas Inferred Affordable Mortgage History

Date Inferred Mortgage
February 2014 $287,721
January 2014 $283,333
December 2013 $282,335
November 2013 $289,091
October 2013 $291,513
September 2013 $281,342
August 2013 $282,335
July 2013 $285,346
June 2013 $295,736
May 2013 $315,513
April 2013 $319,064
March 2013 $314,342
February 2013 $315,904

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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