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This section of Department of Numbers is no longer being updated and may be removed in the future. The data here is out of date and should no longer be used.

Alabama Home Affordability

The data below quantifies Alabama 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 Alabama home affordability to other states.

Alabama Home Price-to-Income Ratios

The home price-to-income ratio for Alabama comes from the Federal Housing Finance Agency's relatively new state median price series and their purchase only index combined with Alabama 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 Alabama was 3.15.

Home Price-to-Income Dollar Ratio: FHFA

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

Home Price-to-Income Index Ratio: FHFA

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

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Alabama Home Price-to-Income Ratio History

Date FHFA
(Dollar Ratio)
FHFA
(Index Ratio)
December 2013 108.6
September 2013 107.9
June 2013 106.6
March 2013 105.1
December 2012 104.9
September 2012 102.4
June 2012 104.2
March 2012 102.3
December 2011 102.4
September 2011 101.9

Alabama Home Price-to-Rent Ratios

The price-to-rent ratio for Alabama 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 Alabama was 21.94 in June 2010.

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

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

Home Price-to-Rent Index Ratio: FHFA

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

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Alabama Home Price-to-Rent Ratio History

Date FHFA
(Dollar Ratio)
FHFA Adjusted
(Dollar Ratio)
FHFA
(Index Ratio)
December 2013 84.1
September 2013 83.6
June 2013 82.6
March 2013 81.4
December 2012 81.3
September 2012 79.3
June 2012 80.7
March 2012 79.3
December 2011 82.3

Alabama Inferred Affordable Mortgage

The inferred affordable mortgage is determined by taking the median household income for Alabama 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 Alabama maximum affordable home loan amount

Alabama Inferred Affordable Mortgage History

Date Inferred Mortgage
February 2014 $219,573
January 2014 $216,224
December 2013 $215,463
November 2013 $220,619
October 2013 $222,467
September 2013 $214,705
August 2013 $215,463
July 2013 $217,760
June 2013 $225,689
May 2013 $240,782
April 2013 $243,492
March 2013 $239,889
February 2013 $241,081

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.