Charleston, South Carolina Home Affordability

The data below measures home affordability for the Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville, South Carolina 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 Charleston home affordability to other cities.

Charleston, South Carolina Home Price-to-Income Ratios

The current price-to-income ratio for Charleston is 4.19 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 Charleston HPI series. Median household income data for Charleston 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

Charleston, South Carolina Home Price-to-Income Ratio History

Date	Realtor (Dollar Ratio)	FHFA (Index Ratio)
September 2011	4.19	123.3
June 2011	4.12	122.5
March 2011	3.82	125.5
December 2010	4.17	130.2
September 2010	4.17	131.2
June 2010	4.17	129.4
March 2010	4.17	133.3
December 2009	3.99	132.8
September 2009	3.99	136.6

Charleston, South Carolina Home Price-to-Rent Ratios

The current adjusted price-to-rent ratio for Charleston is 20.74 as determined by September 2011 Realtor median sales prices. This ratio is calculated using household size adjusted median contract rent for Charleston. The chart below shows an index of the rent ratio calculated from the metro FHFA HPI series and the Charleston 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

Charleston, South Carolina Home Price-to-Rent Ratio History

Date	Realtor (Dollar Ratio)	Realtor Adjusted (Dollar Ratio)	FHFA (Index Ratio)
September 2011	23.42	20.74	99.7
June 2011	23.06	20.42	99.1
March 2011	21.36	18.91	101.5
December 2010	23.34	20.67	105.3
September 2010	23.34	20.67	106.1
June 2010	23.34	20.67	104.7
March 2010	23.34	20.67	107.8
December 2009	22.81	20.20	109.7
September 2009	22.81	20.20	112.8

Charleston, South Carolina Home Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Ratio

The rent-to-mortgage payment ratio uses the adjusted rent for Charleston 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 Charleston was 0.83 in September 2011.

Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Dollar Ratio: Realtor

Charleston, South Carolina Home Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Ratio History

Date	Realtor Adjusted Rent (Dollar Ratio)
September 2011	0.83
June 2011	0.80
March 2011	0.84
December 2010	0.78
September 2010	0.81
June 2010	0.77
March 2010	0.75
December 2009	0.77
September 2009	0.76

Charleston, South Carolina Inferred Affordable Mortgage

The inferred affordable mortgage value is determined by taking the median household income for Charleston, South 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

Charleston, South Carolina Inferred Affordable Mortgage History

Date	Inferred Mortgage
November 2011	$251,982
October 2011	$249,563
September 2011	$248,367
August 2011	$243,667
July 2011	$235,754
June 2011	$236,861
May 2011	$233,293
April 2011	$227,960
March 2011	$227,960
February 2011	$225,106
January 2011	$230,071
December 2010	$231,405
November 2010	$242,800