Department of Numbers

Decatur, Illinois Home Affordability

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

Decatur, Illinois Home Price-to-Income Ratios

The current price-to-income ratio for Decatur is 1.92 as determined by December 2012 Realtor median sales prices. The second chart shows a history of the ratio as an index calculated from the Federal Housing Finance Agency's Decatur HPI series. Median household income data for Decatur 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

Decatur, Illinois Home Price-to-Income Ratio History

Date Realtor
(Dollar Ratio) 		FHFA
(Index Ratio)
December 2012 1.92 110.7
September 2012 1.92 108.4
June 2012 1.92 109.5
March 2012 1.92 109.6
December 2011 1.97 108.9
September 2011 1.97 108.9
June 2011 1.97 108.5
March 2011 1.97 106.8
December 2010 2.11 119.9

Decatur, Illinois Home Price-to-Rent Ratios

The current adjusted price-to-rent ratio for Decatur is 12.65 as determined by December 2012 Realtor median sales prices. This ratio is calculated using household size adjusted median contract rent for Decatur. The chart below shows an index of the rent ratio calculated from the metro FHFA HPI series and the Decatur 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

Decatur, Illinois Home Price-to-Rent Ratio History

Date Realtor
(Dollar Ratio) 		Realtor Adjusted
(Dollar Ratio) 		FHFA
(Index Ratio)
December 2012 13.85 12.65 88.5
September 2012 13.85 12.65 86.7
June 2012 13.85 12.65 87.6
March 2012 13.85 12.65 87.7
December 2011 14.24 13.01 87.1
September 2011 14.24 13.01 87.1
June 2011 14.24 13.01 86.8
March 2011 14.24 13.01 85.4
December 2010 15.67 13.03 98.3

Decatur, Illinois Home Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Ratio

The rent-to-mortgage payment ratio uses the adjusted rent for Decatur 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 Decatur was 1.49 in December 2012.

Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Dollar Ratio: Realtor

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

Date Realtor Adjusted Rent
(Dollar Ratio)
December 2012 1.49
September 2012 1.47
June 2012 1.43
March 2012 1.39
December 2011 1.35
September 2011 1.32
June 2011 1.26
March 2011 1.22
December 2010 1.23

Decatur, Illinois Inferred Affordable Mortgage

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

Decatur, Illinois Inferred Affordable Mortgage History

Date Inferred Mortgage
January 2013 $250,064
December 2012 $251,949
November 2012 $251,949
October 2012 $251,004
September 2012 $247,274
August 2012 $244,228
July 2012 $245,744
June 2012 $241,831
May 2012 $238,299
April 2012 $235,128
March 2012 $233,991
February 2012 $235,700
January 2012 $234,843

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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