Department of Numbers

Altoona, Pennsylvania Home Affordability

The data below measures home affordability for the Altoona, Pennsylvania 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 Altoona home affordability to other cities.

Altoona, Pennsylvania 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 Altoona HPI series. Median household income data for Altoona is from the Census American Community Survey.

Price-to-Income Index Ratio: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Altoona, Pennsylvania Home Price-to-Income Ratio History

Date FHFA (Index Ratio)
September 2011 111.5
June 2011 117.7
March 2011 114.0
December 2010 114.6
September 2010 113.7
June 2010 112.1
March 2010 114.0
December 2009 125.0
September 2009 123.6

Altoona, Pennsylvania Home Price-to-Rent Ratios

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

Price-to-Rent Index Ratio: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Altoona, Pennsylvania Home Price-to-Rent Ratio History

Date FHFA (Index Ratio)
September 2011 104.7
June 2011 110.5
March 2011 107.0
December 2010 107.6
September 2010 106.8
June 2010 105.2
March 2010 107.0
December 2009 114.3
September 2009 113.1

Altoona, Pennsylvania Inferred Affordable Mortgage

The inferred affordable mortgage value is determined by taking the median household income for Altoona, Pennsylvania 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

Altoona, Pennsylvania Inferred Affordable Mortgage History

Date Inferred Mortgage
November 2011 $225,390
October 2011 $223,227
September 2011 $222,157
August 2011 $217,952
July 2011 $210,875
June 2011 $211,865
May 2011 $208,674
April 2011 $203,904
March 2011 $203,904
February 2011 $201,350
January 2011 $205,792
December 2010 $206,985
November 2010 $217,177

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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