Department of Numbers

Iowa City, Iowa Home Affordability

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

Iowa City, Iowa Home Price-to-Income Ratios

The second chart shows a history of the ratio as an index calculated from the Federal Housing Finance Agency's Iowa City HPI series. Median household income data for Iowa City is from the Census American Community Survey.

Price-to-Income Index Ratio: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Iowa City, Iowa Home Price-to-Income Ratio History

Date FHFA (Index Ratio)
December 2011 112.8
September 2011 111.9
June 2011 110.6
March 2011 110.5
December 2010 112.0
September 2010 112.8
June 2010 111.3
March 2010 112.1
December 2009 111.5

Iowa City, Iowa Home Price-to-Rent Ratios

The chart below shows an index of the rent ratio calculated from the metro FHFA HPI series and the Iowa City median contract rent data from the Census ACS.

Price-to-Rent Index Ratio: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Iowa City, Iowa Home Price-to-Rent Ratio History

Date FHFA (Index Ratio)
December 2011 99.6
September 2011 98.8
June 2011 97.6
March 2011 97.6
December 2010 98.9
September 2010 99.5
June 2010 98.2
March 2010 99.0
December 2009 108.8

Iowa City, Iowa Inferred Affordable Mortgage

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

Iowa City, Iowa Inferred Affordable Mortgage History

Date Inferred Mortgage
January 2012 $256,046
December 2011 $254,808
November 2011 $253,885
October 2011 $251,448
September 2011 $250,243
August 2011 $245,507
July 2011 $237,535
June 2011 $238,650
May 2011 $235,055
April 2011 $229,682
March 2011 $229,682
February 2011 $226,806
January 2011 $231,809

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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