Department of Numbers

El Paso, Texas Home Affordability

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

El Paso, Texas Home Price-to-Income Index

The current price-to-income ratio for El Paso is 3.67 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 El Paso HPI series.1 Median household income data for El Paso is from the Census American Community Survey.2

Price-to-Income: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

El Paso, Texas Home Price-to-Income Index History

Date FHFA
June 2010 138.7
March 2010 135.0
December 2009 137.1
September 2009 138.5
June 2009 141.2

El Paso, Texas Home Price-to-Rent Index

The current price-to-rent ratio for El Paso is 18.94 as determined by June 2010 Realtor median sales prices. This ratio is calculated using household size adjusted median contract rent for El Paso. The chart below shows an index of the rent ratio calculated from the metro FHFA HPI series and the El Paso median contract rent data from the Census ACS.

Price-to-Rent: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

El Paso, Texas Home Price-to-Rent Index History

Date FHFA
June 2010 129.7
March 2010 126.3
December 2009 128.3
September 2009 129.6
June 2009 132.1

El Paso, Texas Inferred Affordable Mortgage

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

Date Inferred Mortgage
July 2010 $178,758
June 2010 $175,056
May 2010 $172,060
April 2010 $167,994
March 2010 $170,493
February 2010 $170,105
January 2010 $169,333
December 2009 $171,274
November 2009 $172,257
October 2009 $170,883
September 2009 $168,757
August 2009 $166,296
July 2009 $165,736

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.