Youngstown, Ohio Home Affordability

The data below measures home affordability for the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio 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 Youngstown home affordability to other cities.

Youngstown, Ohio Home Price-to-Income Ratios

The current price-to-income ratio for Youngstown is 1.74 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 Youngstown HPI series. Median household income data for Youngstown 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

Youngstown, Ohio Home Price-to-Income Ratio History

Date	Realtor (Dollar Ratio)	FHFA (Index Ratio)
December 2011	—	104.9
September 2011	1.74	105.0
June 2011	1.95	103.2
March 2011	1.75	104.5
December 2010	1.71	107.5
September 2010	1.71	108.1
June 2010	1.71	105.6
March 2010	1.71	107.0
December 2009	1.63	102.6

Youngstown, Ohio Home Price-to-Rent Ratios

The current adjusted price-to-rent ratio for Youngstown is 11.02 as determined by September 2011 Realtor median sales prices. This ratio is calculated using household size adjusted median contract rent for Youngstown. The chart below shows an index of the rent ratio calculated from the metro FHFA HPI series and the Youngstown 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

Youngstown, Ohio Home Price-to-Rent Ratio History

Date	Realtor (Dollar Ratio)	Realtor Adjusted (Dollar Ratio)	FHFA (Index Ratio)
December 2011	—	—	90.5
September 2011	12.32	11.02	90.6
June 2011	13.82	12.36	89.0
March 2011	12.37	11.07	90.1
December 2010	12.12	10.84	92.7
September 2010	12.12	10.84	93.2
June 2010	12.12	10.84	91.1
March 2010	12.12	10.84	92.2
December 2009	12.40	10.46	95.4

Youngstown, Ohio Home Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Ratio

The rent-to-mortgage payment ratio uses the adjusted rent for Youngstown 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 Youngstown was 1.56 in September 2011.

Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Dollar Ratio: Realtor

Youngstown, Ohio Home Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Ratio History

Date	Realtor Adjusted Rent (Dollar Ratio)
December 2011	—
September 2011	1.56
June 2011	1.33
March 2011	1.43
December 2010	1.48
September 2010	1.54
June 2010	1.48
March 2010	1.44
December 2009	1.50

Youngstown, Ohio Inferred Affordable Mortgage

The inferred affordable mortgage value is determined by taking the median household income for Youngstown, Ohio 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

Youngstown, Ohio Inferred Affordable Mortgage History

Date	Inferred Mortgage
January 2012	$207,480
December 2011	$206,477
November 2011	$205,729
October 2011	$203,755
September 2011	$202,778
August 2011	$198,940
July 2011	$192,481
June 2011	$193,384
May 2011	$190,471
April 2011	$186,117
March 2011	$186,117
February 2011	$183,787
January 2011	$187,840