4-Bedroom Rent Calculation for

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The 4-Bedroom FMR for is computed from the ratio of the 2005 4-Bedroom Intermediate Rent to the 2005 2-Bedroom Intermediate Rent. This 4-Bedroom Rent Ratio is applied to the Final FY 2007 2-Bedroom FMR to determine the Final FY 2007 4-Bedroom FMR.

The 2005 4-Bedroom Intermediate Rent is computed from a 2000 Census 4-Bedroom Base Rent that is updated to 2005 using the 4-bedroom 2000-to-2005 update factor derived from the Revised Final FY 2005 4-Bedroom FMR for the old FMR area that contained .

The 4-Bedroom FMR may be separately rebenchmarked from the 2-Bedroom FMR by a special RDD of 4-bedroom rental units.

The table below provides the relevant summary figures for computing the Final FY 2007 4-Bedroom FMR

Summary Computation of 4-Bedroom FMR for
2000 Census 4-Bedroom Base Rent	2005 4-Bedroom Intermediate Rent	2005 2-Bedroom Intermediate Rent	4-Bedroom Rent Ratio	Final FY 2007 2-Bedroom FMR	Final FY 2007 4-Bedroom FMR
			/ = ODBiC Error: Non-numeric expression: (null) / (null) [Error in file bdrm_rent_2007.odb line 136] -0.000		x ODBiC Error: Non-numeric expression: (null) / (null) [Error in file bdrm_rent_2007.odb line 138] -0.000 = ODBiC Error: Non-numeric expression: (null) / (null) [Error in file bdrm_rent_2007.odb line 138] $#,###

The remainder of this page demonstrates how the 2000 Census 4-Bedroom Base Rent and 2005 4-Bedroom Intermediate Rent are computed.

4-Bedroom FMR Computational Techniques

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 base rent. In , the 4-bedroom unit base Rent is restricted to be between and 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.

User Note

In computing 2000 Census FMR Bedroom 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 RENT COMPUTED FROM THE PROTECTED DATA.

Recent Mover and Standard Quality Rents

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

A Microsoft Excel file containing the unsummarized versions of the publicly releasable recent mover and standard quality 4-Bedroom rent distributions for is available here.

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 is .

50th Percentile Recent Mover Rent for 4-Bedroom Units

The following table and calculations demonstrate how the 50th percentile Census 2000 4-Bedroom FMR Rent is determined for using the public distribution of recent mover rents for 4-bedroom units in the FMR area.

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