Chicago, Illinois Home Affordability

The data below measures home affordability for the Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, Illinois 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 Chicago home affordability to other cities.

Chicago, Illinois Home Price-to-Income Ratios

The current price-to-income ratio for Chicago is 3.29 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 Chicago HPI series. Median household income data for Chicago 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

Chicago, Illinois Home Price-to-Income Ratio History

Date	Realtor (Dollar Ratio)	FHFA (Index Ratio)
September 2011	3.29	113.8
June 2011	3.21	113.1
March 2011	2.71	115.7
December 2010	3.35	120.7
September 2010	3.35	121.6
June 2010	3.35	120.4
March 2010	3.35	122.1
December 2009	3.39	121.2
September 2009	3.39	122.2

Chicago, Illinois Home Price-to-Rent Ratios

The current adjusted price-to-rent ratio for Chicago is 16.7 as determined by September 2011 Realtor median sales prices. This ratio is calculated using household size adjusted median contract rent for Chicago. The chart below shows an index of the rent ratio calculated from the metro FHFA HPI series and the Chicago 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

Chicago, Illinois Home Price-to-Rent Ratio History

Date	Realtor (Dollar Ratio)	Realtor Adjusted (Dollar Ratio)	FHFA (Index Ratio)
September 2011	19.45	16.70	93.3
June 2011	18.99	16.30	92.7
March 2011	16.07	13.79	94.8
December 2010	19.84	17.03	98.9
September 2010	19.84	17.03	99.6
June 2010	19.84	17.03	98.7
March 2010	19.84	17.03	100.0
December 2009	20.91	17.95	103.4
September 2009	20.91	17.95	104.3

Chicago, Illinois Home Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Ratio

The rent-to-mortgage payment ratio uses the adjusted rent for Chicago 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 Chicago was 1.03 in September 2011.

Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Dollar Ratio: Realtor

Chicago, Illinois Home Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Ratio History

Date	Realtor Adjusted Rent (Dollar Ratio)
September 2011	1.03
June 2011	1.01
March 2011	1.15
December 2010	0.94
September 2010	0.98
June 2010	0.94
March 2010	0.91
December 2009	0.87
September 2009	0.86

Chicago, Illinois Inferred Affordable Mortgage

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

Chicago, Illinois Inferred Affordable Mortgage History

Date	Inferred Mortgage
November 2011	$299,388
October 2011	$296,514
September 2011	$295,093
August 2011	$289,508
July 2011	$280,108
June 2011	$281,422
May 2011	$277,183
April 2011	$270,847
March 2011	$270,847
February 2011	$267,456
January 2011	$273,355
December 2010	$274,940
November 2010	$288,478