Department of Numbers

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Lansing, Michigan Home Affordability

The data below measures home affordability for the Lansing-East Lansing, Michigan 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 Lansing home affordability to other cities.

Lansing, Michigan Home Price-to-Income Ratios

The current price-to-income ratio for Lansing is 2.07 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 Lansing HPI series. Median household income data for Lansing 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

Lansing, Michigan Home Price-to-Income Ratio History

Date Realtor
(Dollar Ratio)		 FHFA
(Index Ratio)
March 2014 2.07 —
December 2013 2.23 89.8
September 2013 2.32 90.7
June 2013 2.12 88.7
March 2013 1.68 87.5
December 2012 1.79 88.3
September 2012 1.79 87.4
June 2012 1.79 86.4

Lansing, Michigan Home Price-to-Rent Ratios

The current adjusted price-to-rent ratio for Lansing is 11.71 as determined by March 2014 Realtor median sales prices. This ratio is calculated using household size adjusted median contract rent for Lansing. The chart below shows an index of the rent ratio calculated from the metro FHFA HPI series and the Lansing 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

Lansing, Michigan Home Price-to-Rent Ratio History

Date Realtor
(Dollar Ratio)		 Realtor Adjusted
(Dollar Ratio)		 FHFA
(Index Ratio)
March 2014 12.94 11.71 —
December 2013 13.95 12.63 74.2
September 2013 14.49 13.12 74.9
June 2013 13.27 12.01 73.2
March 2013 10.48 9.49 72.3
December 2012 11.21 10.15 73.0
September 2012 11.21 10.15 72.2
June 2012 11.21 10.15 71.3

Lansing, Michigan Home Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Ratio

The rent-to-mortgage payment ratio uses the adjusted rent for Lansing 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 Lansing was 1.43 in March 2014.

Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Dollar Ratio: Realtor

Lansing, Michigan Home Rent-to-Mortgage Payment Ratio History

Date Realtor Adjusted Rent
(Dollar Ratio)
March 2014 1.43
December 2013 1.31
September 2013 1.26
June 2013 1.44
March 2013 1.94
December 2012 1.86
September 2012 1.83
June 2012 1.79

Lansing, Michigan Inferred Affordable Mortgage

The inferred affordable mortgage value is determined by taking the median household income for Lansing, Michigan 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

Lansing, Michigan Inferred Affordable Mortgage History

Date Inferred Mortgage
February 2014 $245,705
January 2014 $241,958
December 2013 $241,106
November 2013 $246,875
October 2013 $248,943
September 2013 $240,258
August 2013 $241,106
July 2013 $243,677
June 2013 $252,549
May 2013 $269,438
April 2013 $272,471
March 2013 $268,439
February 2013 $269,773

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. ↩

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