Department of Numbers

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. The maximum affordable loan amount for the median household income is also calculated.

Chicago, Illinois Home Price-to-Income Index

The current price-to-income ratio for Chicago is 2.88 as determined by March 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 Chicago HPI series.1 Median household income data for Chicago is from the Census American Community Survey.2

Price-to-Income: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Chicago, Illinois Home Price-to-Income Index History

Date FHFA
March 2010 115.8
December 2009 118.7
September 2009 119.5
June 2009 124.1
March 2009 129.0

Chicago, Illinois Home Price-to-Rent Index

The current price-to-rent ratio for Chicago is 16.39 as determined by March 2010 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: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Chicago, Illinois Home Price-to-Rent Index History

Date FHFA
March 2010 106.1
December 2009 108.7
September 2009 109.5
June 2009 113.7
March 2009 118.2

Chicago, Illinois Inferred Affordable Mortgage

The inferred affordable mortgage 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

Date Inferred Mortgage
May 2010 $289,062
April 2010 $282,231
March 2010 $286,430
February 2010 $285,778
January 2010 $284,480
December 2009 $287,742
November 2009 $289,393
October 2009 $287,085
September 2009 $283,513
August 2009 $279,378
July 2009 $278,437
June 2009 $272,286
May 2009 $290,058

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.