1972–2025
Eligible for rankings because all required annual observations pass review.
Reproducible by design
From three source series to one narrow comparison
Housing Time Machine keeps public source data separate from private user inputs, calculates at full precision, and labels every incomplete period before it can enter a ranking.
Calculation sequence
Six inspectable steps
- Choose eligible records.1972–2025 require reviewed full-year price, rate, and CPI-U observations. Missing inputs make a record ineligible; they never become zero.
- Translate current income.Historical income equals current annual income multiplied by historical CPI-U and divided by the current CPI-U anchor. Entered monthly debt uses the same conversion.
- Apply the down payment.Estimated loan principal equals the official annual median new-home sale price multiplied by one minus the user-entered down-payment decimal.
- Estimate principal and interest.The standard fixed-rate amortization formula uses the annual average 30-year rate, a monthly rate, and 360 payments. A zero rate uses principal divided by 360.
- Calculate transparent ratios.Estimated P&I share divides monthly principal and interest by inflation-adjusted gross monthly income. Price-to-income is labeled years of gross salary—not years to pay off a home.
- Rank exact completed-year results.Best and hardest use the full-precision minimum and maximum estimated P&I share. The UI displays all exact ties.
Comparison eligibility
Complete, partial, or unavailable
1971 and 2026
Visible context, excluded from every completed-year ranking.
1963–1970 rate
Freddie Mac PMMS did not yet exist. No rate is invented or converted to zero.
Baseline exclusions
What the result does not model
- Property tax and homeowners insurance
- PMI, HOA dues, maintenance, and utilities
- Closing costs, credit profile, and underwriting
- Existing-home prices, local prices, or rent-versus-buy
- Mortgage qualification, approval, or a universal affordability threshold