Department of Numbers

Fresno, California Home Affordability

The data below measures home affordability for the Fresno, California 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 Fresno home affordability to other cities.

Fresno, California 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 Fresno HPI series. Median household income data for Fresno is from the Census American Community Survey.

Price-to-Income Index Ratio: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Fresno, California Home Price-to-Income Ratio History

Date FHFA (Index Ratio)
September 2011 107.5
June 2011 107.9
March 2011 112.2
December 2010 117.2
September 2010 120.8
June 2010 120.0
March 2010 122.0
December 2009 123.1
September 2009 120.6

Fresno, California Home Price-to-Rent Ratios

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

Price-to-Rent Index Ratio: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Fresno, California Home Price-to-Rent Ratio History

Date FHFA (Index Ratio)
September 2011 87.7
June 2011 88.0
March 2011 91.6
December 2010 95.7
September 2010 98.5
June 2010 97.9
March 2010 99.6
December 2009 99.8
September 2009 97.8

Fresno, California Inferred Affordable Mortgage

The inferred affordable mortgage value is determined by taking the median household income for Fresno, California 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

Fresno, California Inferred Affordable Mortgage History

Date Inferred Mortgage
November 2011 $237,087
October 2011 $234,811
September 2011 $233,686
August 2011 $229,263
July 2011 $221,819
June 2011 $222,860
May 2011 $219,503
April 2011 $214,485
March 2011 $214,485
February 2011 $211,800
January 2011 $216,471
December 2010 $217,727
November 2010 $228,448

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. ↩

Data on deptofnumbers.com is for informational purposes only. No warranty or guarantee of accuracy is offered or implied. Contact ben@deptofnumbers.com (or @deptofnumbers on Twitter) if you have any questions, comments or suggestions. Privacy policy.