Department of Numbers

Memphis, Tennessee Home Affordability

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

Memphis, Tennessee Home Price-to-Income Index

The current price-to-income ratio for Memphis is 2.76 as determined by June 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 Memphis HPI series.1 Median household income data for Memphis is from the Census American Community Survey.2

Price-to-Income: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Memphis, Tennessee Home Price-to-Income Index History

Date FHFA
June 2010 102.3
March 2010 102.7
December 2009 104.5
September 2009 105.2
June 2009 108.2

Memphis, Tennessee Home Price-to-Rent Index

The current price-to-rent ratio for Memphis is 17.37 as determined by June 2010 Realtor median sales prices. This ratio is calculated using household size adjusted median contract rent for Memphis. The chart below shows an index of the rent ratio calculated from the metro FHFA HPI series and the Memphis median contract rent data from the Census ACS.

Price-to-Rent: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Memphis, Tennessee Home Price-to-Rent Index History

Date FHFA
June 2010 91.2
March 2010 91.5
December 2009 93.1
September 2009 93.8
June 2009 96.4

Memphis, Tennessee Inferred Affordable Mortgage

The inferred affordable mortgage is determined by taking the median household income for Memphis, Tennessee 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
July 2010 $226,150
June 2010 $221,468
May 2010 $217,677
April 2010 $212,533
March 2010 $215,695
February 2010 $215,204
January 2010 $214,227
December 2009 $216,683
November 2009 $217,927
October 2009 $216,188
September 2009 $213,498
August 2009 $210,385
July 2009 $209,676

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.