Department of Numbers

Houma, Louisiana Home Affordability

The data below measures home affordability for the Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, Louisiana 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 Houma home affordability to other cities.

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

Price-to-Income Index Ratio: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Houma, Louisiana Home Price-to-Income Ratio History

Date FHFA (Index Ratio)
December 2011 121.5
September 2011 121.2
June 2011 119.4
March 2011 121.0
December 2010 122.2
September 2010 121.6
June 2010 122.9
March 2010 120.9
December 2009 123.1

Houma, Louisiana Home Price-to-Rent Ratios

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

Price-to-Rent Index Ratio: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Houma, Louisiana Home Price-to-Rent Ratio History

Date FHFA (Index Ratio)
December 2011 101.8
September 2011 101.5
June 2011 100.0
March 2011 101.3
December 2010 102.4
September 2010 101.8
June 2010 102.9
March 2010 101.2
December 2009 111.0

Houma, Louisiana Inferred Affordable Mortgage

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

Houma, Louisiana Inferred Affordable Mortgage History

Date Inferred Mortgage
January 2012 $254,777
December 2011 $253,545
November 2011 $252,627
October 2011 $250,202
September 2011 $249,003
August 2011 $244,290
July 2011 $236,358
June 2011 $237,467
May 2011 $233,890
April 2011 $228,544
March 2011 $228,544
February 2011 $225,682
January 2011 $230,660

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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