The 4-Bedroom FMR is computed from a 2000 Census Base 4-Bedroom Rent and updated using the same update factors derived for the 2-Bedroom FMR. The 4-Bedroom FMR may be separately rebenchmarked from the 2-Bedroom FMR by a special RDD of 4-Bedroom rental units.
The actual 2000 Census 4-Bedroom Base Rent and Revised Final 2005 4-Bedroom FMR for Traill County, ND are: $682 and $774. All FMRs are 40th percentile rents. The update factors used to derive the Revised Final 2005 4-Bedroom FMR are summarized in the table below. The sources of the update factors are the same as the sources for the 2-Bedroom FMR update factors.
| 4-Bedroom FMR Update Process for Traill County, ND |
||
|---|---|---|
| Data Year | Amount | Change from Previous* |
| 2000 Census Base | $682 | - |
| 2001 | $699 | 2.5% |
| 2002 | $726 | 3.9% |
| 2003 | $735 | 1.2% |
| 2004 | $751 | 2.2% |
| FY 2005 Final | $774 | 3.0% |
| FY 2005 Revised Final | $774 | No Change |
The remainder of this page demonstrates how the 2000 Census 4-Bedroom Base Rent is computed.
FMR estimates are calculated for 2-bedroom units, the most common size of rental units, and therefore the most reliable to survey and analyze. After each decennial Census, rent relationships between 2-bedroom units and other unit sizes are calculated and used to set FMRs for other units. This is done because it is much easier to update 2-bedroom estimates and to use pre-established cost relationships with other bedroom sizes than it is to develop independent FMR estimates for each bedroom size.
Adjustments are made to the Census results for areas with local bedroom-size intervals above or below what are considered to be reasonable ranges or where sample sizes are inadequate to accurately measure bedroom rent differentials. Experience has shown that highly unusual bedroom ratios typically reflect inadequate sample sizes or peculiar local circumstances that HUD would not want to utilize in setting FMRs (e.g., luxury efficiency apartments in New York City that rent for more than typical one-bedroom units). Bedroom interval ranges were established based on an analysis of the range of such intervals for all areas with large enough samples to permit accurate bedroom ratio determinations. The final range for 4-bedroom units is between 1.14 and 1.63 of the 2-bedroom unit FMR. In Traill County, ND, the 4-bedroom unit base FMR is restricted to be between $537 and $768 before application of the large unit adjustment described below.
The rents for three-bedroom and larger units continue to reflect HUD?s policy to set higher rents for these units than would result from using normal market rents. This adjustment is intended to increase the likelihood that the largest families, who have the most difficulty in leasing units, will be successful in finding eligible program units. The adjustment adds bonuses of 8.7 percent to the unadjusted three-bedroom FMR estimates and adds 7.7 percent to the unadjusted four-bedroom FMR estimates.
Bedroom rents for a given FMR area are further adjusted if the differentials between bedroom-size FMRs were inconsistent with normally observed patterns.
Traill County, ND has an insufficient 2000 Census sample to compute its own recent-mover FMR. HUD requires a sample of at least 200 recent movers, but Traill County, ND has only 105 units in the protected data sample. Therefore, Traill County, ND is assigned the 2000 Census Base Rentfor the combination of counties listed below, even though some members of the group may have a sufficient sample size for their own FMR. Other FMR areas that use the same county group FMR are indicated by "*"
Members of the county group: Grand Forks County, ND; Nelson County, ND*; Pembina County, ND*; Steele County, ND*; Traill County, ND*; Walsh County, ND*.
In computing 2000 Census RentBedroom Rents, HUD actually uses data on rent distributions
that are prohibited from public release under Title XIII to protect the
confidentiality of respondents. The distributions used in this demonstration
are rounded versions of the actual, protected data.
The rounding scheme is as follows:
0, count = 0
1 to 7, count = 4
all other counts are rounded to the nearest 5 (e.g., 10, 15, 20, 25, etc.)
CALCULATIONS USING THE ROUNDED DATA MAY NOT PRODUCE THE SAME RESULT AS CALCULATIONS
USING THE PROTECTED DATA. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HUD'S ACTUAL RESULTS AND THOSE
DEMONSTRATED HERE IS INVERSELY RELATED TO THE SIZE OF THE FMR AREA. THAT IS,
THE LARGER THE AREA, THE CLOSER THE CALCULATION BASED ON THE
ROUNDED DATA IS LIKELY TO BE TO THE CENSUS BASE FMR COMPUTED FROM THE PROTECTED DATA.
HUD uses rents for recent movers in standard quality units to set the Census 2000 Base Rent.
"Standard Quality" units and rents are determined by limiting the full Census sample by including only responses
meeting the following criteria:
a. Occupied rental units paying cash rent
b. Specified renter ? on 10 acres or less
c. with full plumbing
d. with full kitchen
e. built before 1999
f. meals not included in rent
"Recent Mover" rents are determined by further limiting the "Standard Quality" sample with the following
additional criterion:
g. moved in within the last two years
The 2000 Census did not include a question that could be used to filter public or assisted housing from the rental distributions, however HUD is required to ensure that FMRs exclude non-market rental housing in their computation. Therefore, HUD excludes all units falling below a specified rent level determined from public housing rents in HUD's program databases as likely to be either assisted housing or otherwise at a below-market rent (perhaps due to quality problems not otherwise captured by the Census questions). The "public housing" rent cut-off for 4-bedroom units in Traill County, ND is $411.
The following table and calculations demonstrate how the 40th percentile Census 2000 4-Bedroom Base Rent is determined for Traill County, ND using the public distribution of recent mover rents for 4-bedroom units in the county group specified above.
| Portion of Recent Mover Rent Distribution | Gross Rent Dollar Range | Number of Units | Percent of Eligible Distribution | Cumulative Percent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Units below interval containing public housing rent level of $411 |
$1 to $399 | 0 | Not in Distribution | Not in Distribution |
| Units in interval containing public houising rent level of $411 |
$400 to $410 | 1.76 | Not in Distribution | Not in Distribution |
| $411 to $424 | 2.24 | 2.1% | 2.1% | |
| Units below interval containing 40th percentile recent mover rent of $642 |
$425 to $624 | 34 | 31.7% | 33.8% |
| Units in interval containing 40th percentile recent mover rent of $642 |
$625 to $649 | 10 | 9.3% | 43.1% |
| Units above interval containing 40th percentile recent mover rent of $642 |
$650 or more | 61 | 56.9% | 100.0% |
| Total units Above Public Housing Rent in Recent Mover Rent Distribution | 107.24 |
The numbers of units with recent mover rents above and below the Public Housing Rent level of $411 are determined using linear interpolation over the 4 units in the rent range $400 to $424. Linear interpolation uses the assupmtion that the 4 units' rents are uniformly distributed in the rent range around the Public Housing Rent level. Under this assumption, the proportion of the rent interval ($25) that is below the Public Housing Rent level is the same as the proportion of units with rents in the interval (4) that have rents below the Public Housing Rent level.
Proportion of rent interval below the Public Housing Rent Level: ($411 - $400) / $25 = 0.4400
Units in the Public Housing Rent Level Interval below the Public Housing Rent Level: 0.4400 x 4 = 1.76
The 40th percentile recent mover rent for Traill County, ND is computed by linear interpolation over the 10 units in the rent range $625 to $649. Linear interpolation uses the assupmtion that the 10 units' rents are uniformly distributed in the rent range around the 40th percentile. Under this assumption, the proportion of the rent interval ($25) that needs to be added to the lower limit of the interval to reach the 40th percentile rent is the same as the proportion of units in the interval that needs to be added to the units in lower rent intervals to reach 40 percent of units in the distribution.
40 percent of units = 0.4 x 107.24 = 42.90
Units below the 40th percentile rent interval = 34.00 + 2.24 = 36.24
Units in 40th percentile rent interval needed to reach 40 percent of units = 42.90 - 36.24 = 6.66
Additional Units as Proportion of Interval = 6.66 / 10.00 = 0.6656
Dollars Added to Lower Limit of Interval to reach 40th percentile rent = 0.6656 x $25 = $17
40th percentile recent mover rent = $625 + $17 = $642
Because the 4-Bedroom unadjusted 2000 Census Base Rentis set at the county group level, the standard quality rent for Traill County, ND is not evaluated. Thus, the unadjusted 2000 Census base rent for Traill County, ND is set at the county group recent mover rent of $642.
The unadjusted 2000 Census 4-Bedroom Base Rent of $657 is inside of the reasonable range of $537 to $768 and is therefore not adjusted for reasonableness.
To reflect HUD?s policy to set higher rents for 4-bedroom units than would result from using normal market rents, the results obtained above are adjusted upward by 7.7 percent to $708 to increase the likelihood that the largest families, who have the most difficulty in leasing units, will be successful in finding eligible program units.
The difference between the actual 2000 Census 4-Bedroom Base Rentof $682 and the demonstration 2000 Census 4-Bedroom Base Rent of $708 computed here is due to the effects of rounding on the public distribution as described above.
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