Grand Rapids, Michigan Home Affordability

The data below measures home affordability for the Grand Rapids-Wyoming, Michigan 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 Grand Rapids home affordability to other cities.

Grand Rapids, Michigan Home Price-to-Income Ratios

The current price-to-income ratio for Grand Rapids is 2.36 as determined by September 2011 Realtor median sales prices. The second chart shows a history of the ratio as an index calculated from the Federal Housing Finance Agency's Grand Rapids HPI series. Median household income data for Grand Rapids is from the Census American Community Survey.

Price-to-Income Dollar Ratio: Realtor

Price-to-Income Index Ratio: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Grand Rapids, Michigan Home Price-to-Income Ratio History

Date	Realtor (Dollar Ratio)	FHFA (Index Ratio)
September 2011	2.36	101.5
June 2011	2.19	99.0
March 2011	1.72	100.1
December 2010	1.95	104.2
September 2010	1.95	104.5
June 2010	1.95	102.4
March 2010	1.95	104.3
December 2009	1.85	104.4
September 2009	1.85	104.6

Grand Rapids, Michigan Home Price-to-Rent Ratios

The current adjusted price-to-rent ratio for Grand Rapids is 13.65 as determined by September 2011 Realtor median sales prices. This ratio is calculated using household size adjusted median contract rent for Grand Rapids. The chart below shows an index of the rent ratio calculated from the metro FHFA HPI series and the Grand Rapids median contract rent data from the Census ACS.

Price-to-Rent Dollar Ratio: Realtor, Realtor Adjusted Rent

Price-to-Rent Index Ratio: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Grand Rapids, Michigan Home Price-to-Rent Ratio History

Date	Realtor (Dollar Ratio)	Realtor Adjusted (Dollar Ratio)	FHFA (Index Ratio)
September 2011	15.65	13.65	84.8
June 2011	14.51	12.66	82.7
March 2011	11.42	9.96	83.7
December 2010	12.88	11.23	87.1
September 2010	12.88	11.23	87.3
June 2010	12.88	11.23	85.6
March 2010	12.88	11.23	87.2
December 2009	12.34	10.77	87.8
September 2009	12.34	10.77	87.9

Grand Rapids, Michigan Home Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Ratio

The rent-to-mortgage payment ratio uses the adjusted rent for Grand Rapids against a 100% loan-to-value mortgage (30-year fixed) for the median price home using Realtor home sales statistics. It's a lot like a cap rate, but I find it more appealing in ratio form. A ratio of 1.0 means that annual rent is equivalent annual mortgage payments. Values less than 1.0 indicate rents are cheaper and values greater than 1.0 mean mortgage payments are cheaper. Beware, taxes are not considered here. The rent-to-mortgage payment ratio for Grand Rapids was 1.26 in September 2011.

Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Dollar Ratio: Realtor

Grand Rapids, Michigan Home Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Ratio History

Date	Realtor Adjusted Rent (Dollar Ratio)
September 2011	1.26
June 2011	1.30
March 2011	1.59
December 2010	1.43
September 2010	1.49
June 2010	1.42
March 2010	1.39
December 2009	1.45
September 2009	1.43

Grand Rapids, Michigan Inferred Affordable Mortgage

The inferred affordable mortgage value is determined by taking the median household income for Grand Rapids, Michigan 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

Grand Rapids, Michigan Inferred Affordable Mortgage History

Date	Inferred Mortgage
November 2011	$246,624
October 2011	$244,257
September 2011	$243,086
August 2011	$238,485
July 2011	$230,741
June 2011	$231,824
May 2011	$228,332
April 2011	$223,113
March 2011	$223,113
February 2011	$220,319
January 2011	$225,179
December 2010	$226,485
November 2010	$237,637