Department of Numbers

Asheville, North Carolina Home Affordability

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

Asheville, North Carolina Home Price-to-Income Index

The chart below shows a history of the ratio as an index calculated from the Federal Housing Finance Agency's Asheville HPI series.1 Median household income data for Asheville is from the Census American Community Survey.2

Price-to-Income: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Asheville, North Carolina Home Price-to-Income Index History

Date FHFA
June 2010 138.3
March 2010 139.8
December 2009 142.6
September 2009 146.5
June 2009 147.2

Asheville, North Carolina Home Price-to-Rent Index

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

Price-to-Rent: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Asheville, North Carolina Home Price-to-Rent Index History

Date FHFA
June 2010 125.2
March 2010 126.6
December 2009 129.0
September 2009 132.6
June 2009 133.3

Asheville, North Carolina Inferred Affordable Mortgage

The inferred affordable mortgage is determined by taking the median household income for Asheville, North Carolina 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 $211,560
June 2010 $207,179
May 2010 $203,633
April 2010 $198,821
March 2010 $201,779
February 2010 $201,320
January 2010 $200,405
December 2009 $202,703
November 2009 $203,867
October 2009 $202,240
September 2009 $199,724
August 2009 $196,811
July 2009 $196,148

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.