Department of Numbers

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. The maximum affordable loan amount for the median household income is also calculated.

Grand Rapids, Michigan Home Price-to-Income Index

The current price-to-income ratio for Grand Rapids is 1.82 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 Grand Rapids HPI series.1 Median household income data for Grand Rapids is from the Census American Community Survey.2

Price-to-Income: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

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

Date FHFA
March 2010 99.4
December 2009 99.6
September 2009 100.5
June 2009 103.2
March 2009 108.0

Grand Rapids, Michigan Home Price-to-Rent Index

The current price-to-rent ratio for Grand Rapids is 10.66 as determined by March 2010 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: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

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

Date FHFA
March 2010 88.6
December 2009 88.8
September 2009 89.6
June 2009 92.0
March 2009 96.3

Grand Rapids, Michigan Inferred Affordable Mortgage

The inferred affordable mortgage 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

Date Inferred Mortgage
May 2010 $235,432
April 2010 $229,869
March 2010 $233,289
February 2010 $232,758
January 2010 $231,701
December 2009 $234,357
November 2009 $235,702
October 2009 $233,822
September 2009 $230,913
August 2009 $227,546
July 2009 $226,779
June 2009 $221,769
May 2009 $236,244

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.