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This section of Department of Numbers is no longer being updated and may be removed in the future. The data here is out of date and should no longer be used.

Iowa City, Iowa Home Affordability

The data below measures home affordability for the Iowa City, Iowa 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 Iowa City home affordability to other cities.

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

Price-to-Income Index Ratio: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Iowa City, Iowa Home Price-to-Income Ratio History

Date FHFA (Index Ratio)
December 2013 107.6
September 2013 107.2
June 2013 105.3
March 2013 104.2
December 2012 103.9
September 2012 103.0
June 2012 102.0
March 2012 102.1

Iowa City, Iowa Home Price-to-Rent Ratios

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

Price-to-Rent Index Ratio: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Iowa City, Iowa Home Price-to-Rent Ratio History

Date FHFA (Index Ratio)
December 2013 103.4
September 2013 102.9
June 2013 101.2
March 2013 100.0
December 2012 99.8
September 2012 99.0
June 2012 98.0
March 2012 98.0

Iowa City, Iowa Inferred Affordable Mortgage

The inferred affordable mortgage value is determined by taking the median household income for Iowa City, Iowa 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

Iowa City, Iowa Inferred Affordable Mortgage History

Date Inferred Mortgage
February 2014 $266,569
January 2014 $262,504
December 2013 $261,579
November 2013 $267,838
October 2013 $270,082
September 2013 $260,659
August 2013 $261,579
July 2013 $264,368
June 2013 $273,994
May 2013 $292,318
April 2013 $295,607
March 2013 $291,233
February 2013 $292,681

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.