Department of Numbers

Alaska Home Affordability

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

Alaska Home Price-to-Income Ratios

The home price-to-income ratio for Alaska comes from the Federal Housing Finance Agency's relatively new state median price series and their purchase only index combined with Alaska 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 Alaska was 4.15.

Home Price-to-Income Dollar Ratio: FHFA

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

Home Price-to-Income Index Ratio: FHFA

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

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Alaska Home Price-to-Income Ratio History

Date FHFA
(Dollar Ratio)
FHFA
(Index Ratio)
December 2012 157.1
September 2012 156.2
June 2012 157.2
March 2012 150.6
December 2011 156.9
September 2011 156.0
June 2011 155.5
March 2011 155.5
December 2010 149.9
September 2010 152.7

Alaska Home Price-to-Rent Ratios

The price-to-rent ratio for Alaska 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 Alaska was 19.83 in June 2010.

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

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

Home Price-to-Rent Index Ratio: FHFA

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

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Alaska Home Price-to-Rent Ratio History

Date FHFA
(Dollar Ratio)
FHFA Adjusted
(Dollar Ratio)
FHFA
(Index Ratio)
December 2012 116.2
September 2012 115.5
June 2012 116.3
March 2012 111.4
December 2011 116.0
September 2011 115.3
June 2011 115.0
March 2011 115.0
December 2010 117.4

Alaska Inferred Affordable Mortgage

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

Alaska Inferred Affordable Mortgage History

Date Inferred Mortgage
January 2013 $323,346
December 2012 $325,784
November 2012 $325,784
October 2012 $324,562
September 2012 $319,739
August 2012 $315,801
July 2012 $317,761
June 2012 $312,701
May 2012 $308,134
April 2012 $304,034
March 2012 $302,563
February 2012 $304,773
January 2012 $303,665

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.