Department of Numbers

Maine Home Affordability

The data below quantifies Maine home affordability by using home prices and home price indices to calculate price-to-income and price-to-rent ratios.1 The maximum affordable loan amount for the median household income is also calculated. You can also compare Maine home affordability to other states.

Maine Home Price-to-Income Ratios

The home price-to-income ratio for Maine comes from the Federal Housing Finance Agency's relatively new state median price series and their purchase only index combined with Maine annual median household income data. The FHFA home price series yields a dollar ratio (top chart) while the index results in an index ratio (bottom chart). Based on the latest FHFA state home prices in June 2010, the price-to-income ratio for Maine was 3.64.

Home Price-to-Income Dollar Ratio: FHFA

Chart of Maine home price-to-income ratio using FHFA median price

Home Price-to-Income Index Ratio: FHFA

Chart of Maine home price-to-income ratio using FHFA HPI

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Maine Home Price-to-Income Ratio History

Date FHFA
(Dollar Ratio) 		FHFA
(Index Ratio)
December 2011 — 131.3
September 2011 — 130.1
June 2011 — 127.6
March 2011 — 127.8
December 2010 — 130.1
September 2010 — 131.9
June 2010 3.64 130.1
March 2010 3.59 132.7
December 2009 3.70 133.3
September 2009 3.64 133.0

Maine Home Price-to-Rent Ratios

The price-to-rent ratio for Maine is determined for both the FHFA median price and the purchase only index by calculating a ratio with the median contract rent. The price-to-adjusted rent value takes into account CPS reported household size to attempt to correct for quality differences in renter and owner occupied homes. More on that process here. Again, the median price ratio is a dollar ratio and the HPI ratio is an index ratio defined to be 100 in Q1 2000. The adjusted price-to-rent ratio for Maine was 19.99 in June 2010.

Home Price-to-Rent Dollar Ratio: FHFA, FHFA Adjusted Rent

Chart of Maine home price-to-rent ratio using FHFA median price

Home Price-to-Rent Index Ratio: FHFA

Chart of Maine home price-to-rent ratio using FHFA HPI

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Maine Home Price-to-Rent Ratio History

Date FHFA
(Dollar Ratio) 		FHFA Adjusted
(Dollar Ratio) 		FHFA
(Index Ratio)
December 2011 — — 119.6
September 2011 — — 118.6
June 2011 — — 116.2
March 2011 — — 116.4
December 2010 — — 118.6
September 2010 — — 120.2
June 2010 23.62 19.99 118.5
March 2010 23.30 19.72 120.9
December 2009 23.39 19.49 118.3

Maine Inferred Affordable Mortgage

The inferred affordable mortgage is determined by taking the median household income for Maine 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 median household income and average monthly mortgage rates. The amounts are not adjusted for inflation.

Inferred Affordable Mortgage

Chart of Maine maximum affordable home loan amount

Maine Inferred Affordable Mortgage History

Date Inferred Mortgage
January 2012 $254,502
December 2011 $253,271
November 2011 $252,354
October 2011 $249,932
September 2011 $248,734
August 2011 $244,026
July 2011 $236,103
June 2011 $237,211
May 2011 $233,638
April 2011 $228,297
March 2011 $228,297
February 2011 $225,438
January 2011 $230,411

1. Specifically, Home prices are from the FHFA seasonally adjusted, purchase only quarterly series. Rent data is from the Census ACS and income is from the Census CPS. Rent and income data for the previous year is carried into the following year for calculations prior to release of new data. ↩

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