Birmingham, Alabama Home Affordability

The data below measures home affordability for the Birmingham-Hoover, Alabama 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 Birmingham home affordability to other cities.

Birmingham, Alabama Home Price-to-Income Ratios

The current price-to-income ratio for Birmingham is 3.31 as determined by September 2011 Realtor median sales prices. The second chart shows a history of the ratio as an index calculated from the Federal Housing Finance Agency's Birmingham HPI series. Median household income data for Birmingham 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

Birmingham, Alabama Home Price-to-Income Ratio History

Date	Realtor (Dollar Ratio)	FHFA (Index Ratio)
September 2011	3.31	116.8
June 2011	3.31	115.7
March 2011	2.99	118.6
December 2010	3.23	121.3
September 2010	3.23	122.2
June 2010	3.23	121.3
March 2010	3.23	122.9
December 2009	3.26	122.9
September 2009	3.26	123.5

Birmingham, Alabama Home Price-to-Rent Ratios

The current adjusted price-to-rent ratio for Birmingham is 20.68 as determined by September 2011 Realtor median sales prices. This ratio is calculated using household size adjusted median contract rent for Birmingham. The chart below shows an index of the rent ratio calculated from the metro FHFA HPI series and the Birmingham 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

Birmingham, Alabama Home Price-to-Rent Ratio History

Date	Realtor (Dollar Ratio)	Realtor Adjusted (Dollar Ratio)	FHFA (Index Ratio)
September 2011	22.93	20.68	98.4
June 2011	22.92	20.67	97.5
March 2011	20.74	18.71	99.9
December 2010	22.40	20.20	102.2
September 2010	22.40	20.20	102.9
June 2010	22.40	20.20	102.2
March 2010	22.40	20.20	103.5
December 2009	22.55	20.34	103.4
September 2009	22.55	20.34	104.0

Birmingham, Alabama Home Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Ratio

The rent-to-mortgage payment ratio uses the adjusted rent for Birmingham 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 Birmingham was 0.83 in September 2011.

Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Dollar Ratio: Realtor

Birmingham, Alabama Home Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Ratio History

Date	Realtor Adjusted Rent (Dollar Ratio)
September 2011	0.83
June 2011	0.79
March 2011	0.85
December 2010	0.79
September 2010	0.83
June 2010	0.79
March 2010	0.77
December 2009	0.77
September 2009	0.76

Birmingham, Alabama Inferred Affordable Mortgage

The inferred affordable mortgage value is determined by taking the median household income for Birmingham, 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 ACS median household income and average monthly mortgage rates.

Inferred Affordable Mortgage

Birmingham, Alabama Inferred Affordable Mortgage History

Date	Inferred Mortgage
November 2011	$231,818
October 2011	$229,593
September 2011	$228,492
August 2011	$224,168
July 2011	$216,889
June 2011	$217,907
May 2011	$214,625
April 2011	$209,719
March 2011	$209,719
February 2011	$207,092
January 2011	$211,660
December 2010	$212,888
November 2010	$223,371