Department of Numbers

Greenville, South Carolina Home Affordability

The data below measures home affordability for the Greenville-Mouldin-Easley, South Carolina metropolitan area using price-to-income and price-to-rent metrics. The maximum affordable loan amount for the median household income is also calculated.

Greenville, South Carolina Home Price-to-Income Index

The current price-to-income ratio for Greenville is 3.12 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 Greenville HPI series.1 Median household income data for Greenville is from the Census American Community Survey.2

Price-to-Income: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Greenville, South Carolina Home Price-to-Income Index History

Date FHFA
March 2010 118.6
December 2009 117.8
September 2009 118.0
June 2009 119.9
March 2009 120.5

Greenville, South Carolina Home Price-to-Rent Index

The current price-to-rent ratio for Greenville is 20.14 as determined by March 2010 Realtor median sales prices. This ratio is calculated using household size adjusted median contract rent for Greenville. The chart below shows an index of the rent ratio calculated from the metro FHFA HPI series and the Greenville median contract rent data from the Census ACS.

Price-to-Rent: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Greenville, South Carolina Home Price-to-Rent Index History

Date FHFA
March 2010 109.1
December 2009 108.4
September 2009 108.6
June 2009 110.3
March 2009 110.9

Greenville, South Carolina Inferred Affordable Mortgage

The inferred affordable mortgage is determined by taking the median household income for Greenville, 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

Date Inferred Mortgage
May 2010 $212,801
April 2010 $207,772
March 2010 $210,863
February 2010 $210,383
January 2010 $209,428
December 2009 $211,829
November 2009 $213,045
October 2009 $211,345
September 2009 $208,716
August 2009 $205,672
July 2009 $204,979
June 2009 $200,451
May 2009 $213,534

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.