Department of Numbers

Lawrence, Kansas Home Affordability

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

Lawrence, Kansas 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 Lawrence HPI series. Median household income data for Lawrence is from the Census American Community Survey.

Price-to-Income Index Ratio: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Lawrence, Kansas Home Price-to-Income Ratio History

Date FHFA (Index Ratio)
December 2011 107.0
September 2011 105.7
June 2011 105.8
March 2011 105.9
December 2010 107.8
September 2010 107.6
June 2010 106.6
March 2010 106.8
December 2009 117.9

Lawrence, Kansas Home Price-to-Rent Ratios

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

Price-to-Rent Index Ratio: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Lawrence, Kansas Home Price-to-Rent Ratio History

Date FHFA (Index Ratio)
December 2011 93.7
September 2011 92.5
June 2011 92.6
March 2011 92.8
December 2010 94.4
September 2010 94.2
June 2010 93.3
March 2010 93.5
December 2009 95.6

Lawrence, Kansas Inferred Affordable Mortgage

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

Lawrence, Kansas Inferred Affordable Mortgage History

Date Inferred Mortgage
January 2012 $249,902
December 2011 $248,693
November 2011 $247,793
October 2011 $245,415
September 2011 $244,238
August 2011 $239,616
July 2011 $231,835
June 2011 $232,923
May 2011 $229,415
April 2011 $224,171
March 2011 $224,171
February 2011 $221,364
January 2011 $226,246

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. ↩

Data on deptofnumbers.com is for informational purposes only. No warranty or guarantee of accuracy is offered or implied. Contact ben@deptofnumbers.com (or @deptofnumbers on Twitter) if you have any questions, comments or suggestions. Privacy policy.