Department of Numbers

Portland, Oregon Home Affordability

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

Portland, Oregon Home Price-to-Income Index

The current price-to-income ratio for Portland is 4.04 as determined by March 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 Portland HPI series.1 Median household income data for Portland is from the Census American Community Survey.2

Price-to-Income: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Portland, Oregon Home Price-to-Income Index History

Date FHFA
March 2010 122.3
December 2009 124.2
September 2009 125.8
June 2009 129.6
March 2009 135.4

Portland, Oregon Home Price-to-Rent Index

The current price-to-rent ratio for Portland is 22.47 as determined by March 2010 Realtor median sales prices. This ratio is calculated using household size adjusted median contract rent for Portland. The chart below shows an index of the rent ratio calculated from the metro FHFA HPI series and the Portland median contract rent data from the Census ACS.

Price-to-Rent: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Portland, Oregon Home Price-to-Rent Index History

Date FHFA
March 2010 125.8
December 2009 127.8
September 2009 129.4
June 2009 133.3
March 2009 139.3

Portland, Oregon Inferred Affordable Mortgage

The inferred affordable mortgage is determined by taking the median household income for Portland, Oregon 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
May 2010 $277,098
April 2010 $270,549
March 2010 $274,575
February 2010 $273,950
January 2010 $272,706
December 2009 $275,832
November 2009 $277,415
October 2009 $275,202
September 2009 $271,778
August 2009 $267,815
July 2009 $266,913
June 2009 $261,016
May 2009 $278,053

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.