Department of Numbers

Billings, Montana Home Affordability

The data below measures home affordability for the Billings, Montana 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 Billings home affordability to other cities.

Billings, Montana Home Price-to-Income Ratios

The second chart shows a history of the ratio as an index calculated from the Federal Housing Finance Agency's Billings HPI series. Median household income data for Billings is from the Census American Community Survey.

Price-to-Income Index Ratio: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Billings, Montana Home Price-to-Income Ratio History

Date FHFA (Index Ratio)
December 2011 128.4
September 2011 128.7
June 2011 128.0
March 2011 128.4
December 2010 130.9
September 2010 129.6
June 2010 128.2
March 2010 127.2
December 2009 133.7

Billings, Montana Home Price-to-Rent Ratios

The chart below shows an index of the rent ratio calculated from the metro FHFA HPI series and the Billings median contract rent data from the Census ACS.

Price-to-Rent Index Ratio: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Billings, Montana Home Price-to-Rent Ratio History

Date FHFA (Index Ratio)
December 2011 122.9
September 2011 123.1
June 2011 122.4
March 2011 122.8
December 2010 125.3
September 2010 124.0
June 2010 122.7
March 2010 121.7
December 2009 120.5

Billings, Montana Inferred Affordable Mortgage

The inferred affordable mortgage value is determined by taking the median household income for Billings, Montana 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

Billings, Montana Inferred Affordable Mortgage History

Date Inferred Mortgage
January 2012 $253,630
December 2011 $252,403
November 2011 $251,489
October 2011 $249,075
September 2011 $247,881
August 2011 $243,190
July 2011 $235,293
June 2011 $236,398
May 2011 $232,837
April 2011 $227,515
March 2011 $227,515
February 2011 $224,666
January 2011 $229,621

1. Specifically, home prices are from the non seasonally adjusted FHFA all-transactions quarterly series. Dollar ratios are calculated using NAR metro prices when available. Rent and income data are from the Census ACS and are carried forward into the following year prior to release of the new data. ↩

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