Department of Numbers

Boston, Massachusetts Home Affordability

The data below measures home affordability for the Boston-Quincy, Massachusetts metropolitan area using price-to-income and price-to-rent metrics. The maximum affordable loan amount for the median household income is also calculated.

Boston, Massachusetts Home Price-to-Income Index

The current price-to-income ratio for Boston is 4.51 as determined by March 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 Boston HPI series.1 Median household income data for Boston is from the Census American Community Survey.2

Price-to-Income: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Boston, Massachusetts Home Price-to-Income Index History

Date FHFA
March 2010 117.5
December 2009 118.3
September 2009 117.8
June 2009 120.1
March 2009 122.8

Boston, Massachusetts Home Price-to-Rent Index

The current price-to-rent ratio for Boston is 21.51 as determined by March 2010 Realtor median sales prices. This ratio is calculated using household size adjusted median contract rent for Boston. The chart below shows an index of the rent ratio calculated from the metro FHFA HPI series and the Boston median contract rent data from the Census ACS.

Price-to-Rent: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Boston, Massachusetts Home Price-to-Rent Index History

Date FHFA
March 2010 102.7
December 2009 103.4
September 2009 103.0
June 2009 105.0
March 2009 107.4

Boston, Massachusetts Inferred Affordable Mortgage

The inferred affordable mortgage is determined by taking the median household income for Boston, Massachusetts 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
May 2010 $336,532
April 2010 $328,580
March 2010 $333,469
February 2010 $332,709
January 2010 $331,198
December 2009 $334,995
November 2009 $336,918
October 2009 $334,231
September 2009 $330,072
August 2009 $325,259
July 2009 $324,163
June 2009 $317,002
May 2009 $337,692

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.