Department of Numbers

Brownsville, Texas Home Affordability

The data below measures home affordability for the Brownsville-Harlingen, Texas 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 Brownsville home affordability to other cities.

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

Price-to-Income Index Ratio: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Brownsville, Texas Home Price-to-Income Ratio History

Date FHFA (Index Ratio)
December 2011 113.0
September 2011 111.9
June 2011 111.5
March 2011 112.0
December 2010 114.5
September 2010 115.5
June 2010 110.9
March 2010 112.2
December 2009 116.6

Brownsville, Texas Home Price-to-Rent Ratios

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

Price-to-Rent Index Ratio: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Brownsville, Texas Home Price-to-Rent Ratio History

Date FHFA (Index Ratio)
December 2011 96.0
September 2011 95.1
June 2011 94.8
March 2011 95.2
December 2010 97.4
September 2010 98.2
June 2010 94.3
March 2010 95.4
December 2009 106.5

Brownsville, Texas Inferred Affordable Mortgage

The inferred affordable mortgage value is determined by taking the median household income for Brownsville, Texas 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

Brownsville, Texas Inferred Affordable Mortgage History

Date Inferred Mortgage
January 2012 $167,803
December 2011 $166,992
November 2011 $166,387
October 2011 $164,790
September 2011 $164,000
August 2011 $160,896
July 2011 $155,672
June 2011 $156,402
May 2011 $154,047
April 2011 $150,525
March 2011 $150,525
February 2011 $148,640
January 2011 $151,919

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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