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This section of Department of Numbers is no longer being updated and may be removed in the future. The data here is out of date and should no longer be used.

Santa Barbara, California Home Affordability

The data below measures home affordability for the Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Goleta, 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 Santa Barbara home affordability to other cities.

Santa Barbara, California 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 Santa Barbara HPI series. Median household income data for Santa Barbara is from the Census American Community Survey.

Price-to-Income Index Ratio: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Santa Barbara, California Home Price-to-Income Ratio History

Date FHFA (Index Ratio)
December 2013 128.4
September 2013 122.1
June 2013 117.4
March 2013 112.9
December 2012 109.9
September 2012 108.3
June 2012 106.4
March 2012 107.1

Santa Barbara, California Home Price-to-Rent Ratios

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

Price-to-Rent Index Ratio: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Santa Barbara, California Home Price-to-Rent Ratio History

Date FHFA (Index Ratio)
December 2013 105.8
September 2013 100.7
June 2013 96.8
March 2013 93.0
December 2012 90.6
September 2012 89.2
June 2012 87.7
March 2012 88.3

Santa Barbara, California Inferred Affordable Mortgage

The inferred affordable mortgage value is determined by taking the median household income for Santa Barbara, 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

Santa Barbara, California Inferred Affordable Mortgage History

Date Inferred Mortgage
February 2014 $312,656
January 2014 $307,889
December 2013 $306,804
November 2013 $314,146
October 2013 $316,777
September 2013 $305,725
August 2013 $306,804
July 2013 $310,076
June 2013 $321,366
May 2013 $342,857
April 2013 $346,716
March 2013 $341,585
February 2013 $343,283

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.