Department of Numbers

San Diego, California Home Affordability

The data below measures home affordability for the San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, California metropolitan area using price-to-income and price-to-rent metrics. The maximum affordable loan amount for the median household income is also calculated.

San Diego, California Home Price-to-Income Index

The current price-to-income ratio for San Diego is 6.23 as determined by June 2010 Realtor median sales prices. The chart below shows a history of the ratio as an index calculated from the Federal Housing Finance Agency's San Diego HPI series.1 Median household income data for San Diego is from the Census American Community Survey.2

Price-to-Income: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

San Diego, California Home Price-to-Income Index History

Date FHFA
June 2010 124.2
March 2010 124.8
December 2009 125.7
September 2009 123.3
June 2009 125.5

San Diego, California Home Price-to-Rent Index

The current price-to-rent ratio for San Diego is 27.28 as determined by June 2010 Realtor median sales prices. This ratio is calculated using household size adjusted median contract rent for San Diego. The chart below shows an index of the rent ratio calculated from the metro FHFA HPI series and the San Diego median contract rent data from the Census ACS.

Price-to-Rent: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

San Diego, California Home Price-to-Rent Index History

Date FHFA
June 2010 104.3
March 2010 104.8
December 2009 105.5
September 2009 103.5
June 2009 105.4

San Diego, California Inferred Affordable Mortgage

The inferred affordable mortgage is determined by taking the median household income for San Diego, 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

Date Inferred Mortgage
July 2010 $308,795
June 2010 $302,402
May 2010 $297,225
April 2010 $290,201
March 2010 $294,519
February 2010 $293,849
January 2010 $292,514
December 2009 $295,868
November 2009 $297,566
October 2009 $295,192
September 2009 $291,520
August 2009 $287,268
July 2009 $286,301

1. Specifically, FHFA data is from the non seasonally adjusted, all-transactions quarterly series.

2. Income data for the previous year is carried into the following year prior to the release of new income data.