Home Payment-to-Income (Palanor)

## What this measures

The monthly principal and interest on the median-priced new home (Census median sales price of houses sold) at that month's average 30-year fixed mortgage rate, with 20% down, as a percent of median household income divided by twelve.

## Why it matters

The single number behind housing affordability: how much of a typical household's monthly income a typical mortgage payment would take. It is built the same way as the paywalled NAR and non-commercial Atlanta Fed affordability indexes, from public-domain inputs.

## How to read it

Higher means less affordable. A common lender guideline caps housing payments at about 28% of gross income.

## What it does not say

Principal and interest only — no taxes, insurance or mortgage insurance, which add materially. Uses the new-home median price (existing-home prices are not public), and household income is annual, so it is held constant within each year.

## Source

Computed by Palanor from US Census Bureau and Freddie Mac data via FRED. Inputs: fred_median_home_price (MSPUS), fred_mortgage30 (MORTGAGE30US), fred_median_household_income_nominal (MEHOINUSA646N). Computed in src/lib/household/sync.ts.