Bismarck, North Dakota Home Affordability

The data below measures home affordability for the Bismarck, North Dakota 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 Bismarck home affordability to other cities.

Bismarck, North Dakota Home Price-to-Income Ratios

The current price-to-income ratio for Bismarck is 3.12 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 Bismarck HPI series. Median household income data for Bismarck 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

Bismarck, North Dakota Home Price-to-Income Ratio History

Date	Realtor (Dollar Ratio)	FHFA (Index Ratio)
September 2011	3.12	127.3
June 2011	3.16	126.8
March 2011	2.99	123.7
December 2010	3.06	122.0
September 2010	3.06	120.6
June 2010	3.06	119.3
March 2010	3.06	118.6
December 2009	2.81	114.5
September 2009	2.81	114.6

Bismarck, North Dakota Home Price-to-Rent Ratios

The current adjusted price-to-rent ratio for Bismarck is 19.15 as determined by September 2011 Realtor median sales prices. This ratio is calculated using household size adjusted median contract rent for Bismarck. The chart below shows an index of the rent ratio calculated from the metro FHFA HPI series and the Bismarck 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

Bismarck, North Dakota Home Price-to-Rent Ratio History

Date	Realtor (Dollar Ratio)	Realtor Adjusted (Dollar Ratio)	FHFA (Index Ratio)
September 2011	26.26	19.15	128.0
June 2011	26.62	19.42	127.5
March 2011	25.13	18.33	124.4
December 2010	25.74	18.78	122.7
September 2010	25.74	18.78	121.3
June 2010	25.74	18.78	120.0
March 2010	25.74	18.78	119.3
December 2009	24.48	17.86	119.3
September 2009	24.48	17.86	119.4

Bismarck, North Dakota Home Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Ratio

The rent-to-mortgage payment ratio uses the adjusted rent for Bismarck 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 Bismarck was 0.9 in September 2011.

Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Dollar Ratio: Realtor

Bismarck, North Dakota Home Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Ratio History

Date	Realtor Adjusted Rent (Dollar Ratio)
September 2011	0.90
June 2011	0.85
March 2011	0.86
December 2010	0.85
September 2010	0.89
June 2010	0.85
March 2010	0.83
December 2009	0.88
September 2009	0.86

Bismarck, North Dakota Inferred Affordable Mortgage

The inferred affordable mortgage value is determined by taking the median household income for Bismarck, North Dakota 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

Bismarck, North Dakota Inferred Affordable Mortgage History

Date	Inferred Mortgage
November 2011	$279,984
October 2011	$277,297
September 2011	$275,968
August 2011	$270,745
July 2011	$261,953
June 2011	$263,183
May 2011	$259,218
April 2011	$253,293
March 2011	$253,293
February 2011	$250,121
January 2011	$255,638
December 2010	$257,121
November 2010	$269,782