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This section of Department of Numbers is no longer being updated and may be removed in the future. The data here is out of date and should no longer be used.

Lake Charles, Louisiana Home Affordability

The data below measures home affordability for the Lake Charles, Louisiana 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 Lake Charles home affordability to other cities.

Lake Charles, Louisiana 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 Lake Charles HPI series. Median household income data for Lake Charles is from the Census American Community Survey.

Price-to-Income Index Ratio: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Lake Charles, Louisiana Home Price-to-Income Ratio History

Date FHFA (Index Ratio)
December 2013 119.0
September 2013 121.4
June 2013 118.1
March 2013 116.8
December 2012 117.9
September 2012 117.6
June 2012 113.9
March 2012 113.4

Lake Charles, Louisiana Home Price-to-Rent Ratios

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

Price-to-Rent Index Ratio: FHFA

Note: Index set to 100 in Q1 of 2000

Lake Charles, Louisiana Home Price-to-Rent Ratio History

Date FHFA (Index Ratio)
December 2013 100.8
September 2013 102.9
June 2013 100.1
March 2013 99.0
December 2012 100.0
September 2012 99.7
June 2012 96.5
March 2012 96.1

Lake Charles, Louisiana Inferred Affordable Mortgage

The inferred affordable mortgage value is determined by taking the median household income for Lake Charles, Louisiana 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

Lake Charles, Louisiana Inferred Affordable Mortgage History

Date Inferred Mortgage
February 2014 $227,847
January 2014 $224,372
December 2013 $223,582
November 2013 $228,932
October 2013 $230,850
September 2013 $222,795
August 2013 $223,582
July 2013 $225,966
June 2013 $234,194
May 2013 $249,855
April 2013 $252,667
March 2013 $248,928
February 2013 $250,165

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.