Housing Opportunity Index

The Housing Opportunity Index is published quarterly by the National Association of Home Builders. "The Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) for a given area is defined as the share of homes sold in that area that would have been affordable to a family earning the local median income based on standard mortgage underwriting criteria." Consequently, it depends on local home prices, incomes and credit market conditions. It assumes a family can spend 28 percent of their income on housing. A similar index, the Housing Affordability Index is published by the National Association of Realtors.