Research
Original data on what it costs to buy and hold a home.
We underwrite these loans every day, so we publish what the numbers actually say — built from public sources, with the method written down first and every edition kept online.
What we publish
The Rental Coverage Index
How far a typical rent goes toward a typical investor mortgage payment in each of the 100 largest U.S. metros, recomputed every quarter.
Method first, then numbers.
Every index here publishes its methodology before its first edition, names every public dataset it draws on, and states the assumptions we chose rather than burying them. Anyone who disagrees with an assumption can substitute their own and rerun the same arithmetic.
Each edition is archived exactly as it was published, and the full metro table is downloadable as a CSV. Later editions restate the trailing quarters from fresh data, because the underlying series get revised — but they never quietly edit a file somebody has already cited.
This research is education built from public data. It is not a rate, an APR, a payment quote, or an offer of credit from Choice Home Mortgage.
Thinking about an investment property?
We will run your actual numbers — the property, the rent, the program — instead of a metro average.