Department of Numbers

St Louis, Missouri Home Affordability

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

St Louis, Missouri Home Price-to-Income Index

The current price-to-income ratio for St Louis is 2.69 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 St Louis HPI series.1 Median household income data for St Louis is from the Census American Community Survey.2

Price-to-Income: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

St Louis, Missouri Home Price-to-Income Index History

Date FHFA
June 2010 117.8
March 2010 118.3
December 2009 119.4
September 2009 119.9
June 2009 122.5

St Louis, Missouri Home Price-to-Rent Index

The current price-to-rent ratio for St Louis is 17.88 as determined by June 2010 Realtor median sales prices. This ratio is calculated using household size adjusted median contract rent for St Louis. The chart below shows an index of the rent ratio calculated from the metro FHFA HPI series and the St Louis median contract rent data from the Census ACS.

Price-to-Rent: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

St Louis, Missouri Home Price-to-Rent Index History

Date FHFA
June 2010 104.6
March 2010 105.1
December 2009 106.1
September 2009 106.5
June 2009 108.8

St Louis, Missouri Inferred Affordable Mortgage

The inferred affordable mortgage is determined by taking the median household income for St Louis, Missouri 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 $260,599
June 2010 $255,203
May 2010 $250,835
April 2010 $244,907
March 2010 $248,551
February 2010 $247,985
January 2010 $246,859
December 2009 $249,689
November 2009 $251,122
October 2009 $249,119
September 2009 $246,020
August 2009 $242,432
July 2009 $241,615

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.