Department of Numbers

Merced, California Home Affordability

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

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

Price-to-Income Index Ratio: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Merced, California Home Price-to-Income Ratio History

Date FHFA (Index Ratio)
September 2011 83.1
June 2011 82.4
March 2011 87.7
December 2010 89.7
September 2010 89.9
June 2010 86.1
March 2010 90.6
December 2009 94.3
September 2009 92.6

Merced, 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 Merced median contract rent data from the Census ACS.

Price-to-Rent Index Ratio: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Merced, California Home Price-to-Rent Ratio History

Date FHFA (Index Ratio)
September 2011 62.8
June 2011 62.2
March 2011 66.2
December 2010 67.7
September 2010 67.8
June 2010 65.0
March 2010 68.4
December 2009 66.4
September 2009 65.2

Merced, California Inferred Affordable Mortgage

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

Merced, California Inferred Affordable Mortgage History

Date Inferred Mortgage
November 2011 $222,554
October 2011 $220,418
September 2011 $219,361
August 2011 $215,209
July 2011 $208,221
June 2011 $209,199
May 2011 $206,048
April 2011 $201,338
March 2011 $201,338
February 2011 $198,816
January 2011 $203,202
December 2010 $204,380
November 2010 $214,444

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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