San Francisco, California Home Affordability

The data below measures home affordability for the San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, 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 San Francisco home affordability to other cities.

San Francisco, California Home Price-to-Income Ratios

The current price-to-income ratio for San Francisco is 6.74 as determined by September 2011 Realtor median sales prices. The second chart shows a history of the ratio as an index calculated from the Federal Housing Finance Agency's San Francisco HPI series. Median household income data for San Francisco is from the Census American Community Survey.

Price-to-Income Dollar Ratio: Realtor

Price-to-Income Index Ratio: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

San Francisco, California Home Price-to-Income Ratio History

Date	Realtor (Dollar Ratio)	FHFA (Index Ratio)
September 2011	6.74	128.3
June 2011	7.03	127.6
March 2011	6.38	129.6
December 2010	7.19	132.4
September 2010	7.19	133.4
June 2010	7.19	132.6
March 2010	7.19	132.6
December 2009	6.68	131.8
September 2009	6.68	131.5

San Francisco, California Home Price-to-Rent Ratios

The current adjusted price-to-rent ratio for San Francisco is 29.25 as determined by September 2011 Realtor median sales prices. This ratio is calculated using household size adjusted median contract rent for San Francisco. The chart below shows an index of the rent ratio calculated from the metro FHFA HPI series and the San Francisco median contract rent data from the Census ACS.

Price-to-Rent Dollar Ratio: Realtor, Realtor Adjusted Rent

Price-to-Rent Index Ratio: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

San Francisco, California Home Price-to-Rent Ratio History

Date	Realtor (Dollar Ratio)	Realtor Adjusted (Dollar Ratio)	FHFA (Index Ratio)
September 2011	33.30	29.25	110.4
June 2011	34.74	30.52	109.7
March 2011	31.54	27.71	111.4
December 2010	35.56	31.24	113.8
September 2010	35.56	31.24	114.7
June 2010	35.56	31.24	114.0
March 2010	35.56	31.24	114.0
December 2009	33.59	29.50	115.3
September 2009	33.59	29.50	114.9

San Francisco, California Home Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Ratio

The rent-to-mortgage payment ratio uses the adjusted rent for San Francisco against a 100% loan-to-value mortgage (30-year fixed) for the median price home using Realtor home sales statistics. It's a lot like a cap rate, but I find it more appealing in ratio form. A ratio of 1.0 means that annual rent is equivalent annual mortgage payments. Values less than 1.0 indicate rents are cheaper and values greater than 1.0 mean mortgage payments are cheaper. Beware, taxes are not considered here. The rent-to-mortgage payment ratio for San Francisco was 0.59 in September 2011.

Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Dollar Ratio: Realtor

San Francisco, California Home Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Ratio History

Date	Realtor Adjusted Rent (Dollar Ratio)
September 2011	0.59
June 2011	0.54
March 2011	0.57
December 2010	0.51
September 2010	0.54
June 2010	0.51
March 2010	0.50
December 2009	0.53
September 2009	0.52

San Francisco, California Inferred Affordable Mortgage

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

San Francisco, California Inferred Affordable Mortgage History

Date	Inferred Mortgage
November 2011	$382,870
October 2011	$379,195
September 2011	$377,378
August 2011	$370,235
July 2011	$358,213
June 2011	$359,895
May 2011	$354,474
April 2011	$346,371
March 2011	$346,371
February 2011	$342,034
January 2011	$349,578
December 2010	$351,605
November 2010	$368,919