A recent Chart of the Week from the Mortgage Bankers Association says the mortgage payment to rent ratio (which was 1.46 in September) is the highest that it has been since the beginning of their series in 2009, with the chart below illustrating this fact. The orange line relates the median principal and interest payment to the median asking rent, and the blue line relates the 25th percentile mortgage application payment to the median asking rent. The MBA points out that, at the 25th percentile for monthly mortgage payments, the ratio is still below a value of 1. Which they say means that even with the recent increase in mortgage payments, the 25th percentile mortgage payment remains below the median rent payment.
“The cost of housing is of fundamental importance, but also as it pertains to inflation. Housing affordability has come into more intense focus of late as both owner and renter vacancy rates have remained close to record lows, driving up both home prices and rents. Inflation is still close to 40-year highs, and shelter costs growing at more than double their historical annual growth rates account for a large portion of inflation growth. The impact of higher shelter costs has yet to peak in most inflation measures and will continue to add to the challenges faced by the Federal Reserve as they bring down inflation.”
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