Department of Numbers

New Orleans, Louisiana Home Affordability

The data below measures home affordability for the New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, Louisiana metropolitan area using price-to-income and price-to-rent metrics. The maximum affordable loan amount for the median household income is also calculated.

New Orleans, Louisiana Home Price-to-Income Index

The current price-to-income ratio for New Orleans is 3.4 as determined by June 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 New Orleans HPI series.1 Median household income data for New Orleans is from the Census American Community Survey.2

Price-to-Income: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

New Orleans, Louisiana Home Price-to-Income Index History

Date FHFA
June 2010 111.4
March 2010 113.0
December 2009 114.1
September 2009 115.9
June 2009 118.0

New Orleans, Louisiana Home Price-to-Rent Index

The current price-to-rent ratio for New Orleans is 16.84 as determined by June 2010 Realtor median sales prices. This ratio is calculated using household size adjusted median contract rent for New Orleans. The chart below shows an index of the rent ratio calculated from the metro FHFA HPI series and the New Orleans median contract rent data from the Census ACS.

Price-to-Rent: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

New Orleans, Louisiana Home Price-to-Rent Index History

Date FHFA
June 2010 82.1
March 2010 83.3
December 2009 84.1
September 2009 85.4
June 2009 87.0

New Orleans, Louisiana Inferred Affordable Mortgage

The inferred affordable mortgage is determined by taking the median household income for New Orleans, 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

Date Inferred Mortgage
July 2010 $233,142
June 2010 $228,315
May 2010 $224,407
April 2010 $219,104
March 2010 $222,364
February 2010 $221,857
January 2010 $220,850
December 2009 $223,382
November 2009 $224,664
October 2009 $222,872
September 2009 $220,099
August 2009 $216,889
July 2009 $216,159

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.