Department of Numbers

This section of Department of Numbers is no longer being updated and may be removed in the future. The data here is out of date and should no longer be used.

San Diego, California Home Affordability

The data below measures home affordability for the San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, California 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 San Diego home affordability to other cities.

San Diego, California Home Price-to-Income Ratios

The current price-to-income ratio for San Diego is 8.01 as determined by March 2014 Realtor median sales prices. The second chart shows a history of the ratio as an index calculated from the Federal Housing Finance Agency's San Diego HPI series. Median household income data for San Diego 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

San Diego, California Home Price-to-Income Ratio History

Date Realtor
(Dollar Ratio)
FHFA
(Index Ratio)
March 2014 8.01
December 2013 7.90 147.3
September 2013 8.04 142.4
June 2013 7.77 134.8
March 2013 6.83 128.3
December 2012 6.39 125.8
September 2012 6.39 123.3
June 2012 6.39 120.9

San Diego, California Home Price-to-Rent Ratios

The current adjusted price-to-rent ratio for San Diego is 33.45 as determined by March 2014 Realtor median sales prices. This ratio is calculated using household size adjusted median contract rent for San Diego. The chart below shows an index of the rent ratio calculated from the metro FHFA HPI series and the San Diego 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

San Diego, California Home Price-to-Rent Ratio History

Date Realtor
(Dollar Ratio)
Realtor Adjusted
(Dollar Ratio)
FHFA
(Index Ratio)
March 2014 33.68 33.45
December 2013 33.25 33.02 112.2
September 2013 33.82 33.59 108.5
June 2013 32.71 32.48 102.7
March 2013 28.75 28.55 97.7
December 2012 26.88 26.70 95.8
September 2012 26.88 26.70 93.9
June 2012 26.88 26.70 92.1

San Diego, California Home Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Ratio

The rent-to-mortgage payment ratio uses the adjusted rent for San Diego 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 San Diego was 0.5 in March 2014.

Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Dollar Ratio: Realtor

San Diego, California Home Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Ratio History

Date Realtor Adjusted Rent
(Dollar Ratio)
March 2014 0.50
December 2013 0.50
September 2013 0.49
June 2013 0.53
March 2013 0.64
December 2012 0.71
September 2012 0.70
June 2012 0.68

San Diego, California Inferred Affordable Mortgage

The inferred affordable mortgage value is determined by taking the median household income for San Diego, California 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

San Diego, California Inferred Affordable Mortgage History

Date Inferred Mortgage
February 2014 $304,776
January 2014 $300,128
December 2013 $299,071
November 2013 $306,227
October 2013 $308,793
September 2013 $298,019
August 2013 $299,071
July 2013 $302,260
June 2013 $313,266
May 2013 $334,215
April 2013 $337,976
March 2013 $332,975
February 2013 $334,630

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.