Department of Numbers

Fort Smith, Arkansas Home Affordability

The data below measures home affordability for the Fort Smith, Arkansas 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 Fort Smith home affordability to other cities.

Fort Smith, Arkansas Home Price-to-Income Ratios

The second chart shows a history of the ratio as an index calculated from the Federal Housing Finance Agency's Fort Smith HPI series. Median household income data for Fort Smith is from the Census American Community Survey.

Price-to-Income Index Ratio: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Fort Smith, Arkansas Home Price-to-Income Ratio History

Date FHFA (Index Ratio)
December 2011 117.6
September 2011 117.1
June 2011 117.3
March 2011 116.9
December 2010 119.0
September 2010 119.4
June 2010 116.9
March 2010 117.0
December 2009 126.8

Fort Smith, Arkansas Home Price-to-Rent Ratios

The chart below shows an index of the rent ratio calculated from the metro FHFA HPI series and the Fort Smith median contract rent data from the Census ACS.

Price-to-Rent Index Ratio: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Fort Smith, Arkansas Home Price-to-Rent Ratio History

Date FHFA (Index Ratio)
December 2011 102.0
September 2011 101.5
June 2011 101.6
March 2011 101.3
December 2010 103.2
September 2010 103.5
June 2010 101.3
March 2010 101.4
December 2009 112.5

Fort Smith, Arkansas Inferred Affordable Mortgage

The inferred affordable mortgage value is determined by taking the median household income for Fort Smith, Arkansas 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

Fort Smith, Arkansas Inferred Affordable Mortgage History

Date Inferred Mortgage
January 2012 $200,882
December 2011 $199,910
November 2011 $199,186
October 2011 $197,275
September 2011 $196,329
August 2011 $192,613
July 2011 $186,359
June 2011 $187,234
May 2011 $184,413
April 2011 $180,198
March 2011 $180,198
February 2011 $177,941
January 2011 $181,866

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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