Need

Orange County Demographics

Orange County (OC) has a population of 19,840 residing in 7,688 households. As is common in rural areas, the % of the population over the age of 65 (OC 15.8%) and the median age (OC 40.8 years) each trend slightly higher than the US median age (US 37.2 years) and population over age 65 (US 13%).

Orange County residents are employed across a variety of sectors, the three largest employment groups being: Health and Social Assistance (21.5%); Manufacturing (19.4%); Education, Recreation, Entertainment and Food Services (17%). Unemployment rates vary by report but currently the average is 3.6% unemployment for OC and 3.3% for the state.

Perhaps a more important index is that of poverty. Across all measures of poverty, the situation in OC is more depressed than comparisons to both the state of Indiana and to national metrics. 17.9% of OC residents lived below the poverty threshold within a 12 month period (US 15.4%). 57.7% of female-headed families (no husband present) with at least one child under the age of 18 live below the poverty threshold (US 43%).

Orange County Housing Stock

There are 9,133 housing units in the county and 7,688 of these are occupied. Compared to the national average, housing in Orange County, Indiana is both smaller and older. Typical for rural Indiana, a large proportion of OC housing was built before 1939 (18.5%) and very little new housing has been added within the last decade. Since 2010 just 25 single family homes have been added across the county (compared to >200 homes added in Monroe County in the same period) and 10 multi-family builds were completed in the same time frame—but no OC multi-family projects have been constructed in the last 6 years. Houses in OC tend to have fewer separate rooms than the national average. Further, the availability of homes for sale also seems to be quite low as the vast majority of homeowners took occupancy of their houses prior to 2009. Only 13.4% of units were moved into since 2010 (US 17.4%).

While OC homes are predominantly (70.9%) single family dwellings (US 61.7%) there are very few multiple occupancy units in the county (OC 6.4%, US 31.8%). Manufactured houses make up a very large part of Orange County housing stock. At 22.7% or all housing units (US 6.5%) manufactured housing offers an affordable option for many OC residents.

*Data from http://www.ruraldataportal.org and https://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.in.htm

Orange County Relative Housing Costs

Houses in OC are less expensive than national trends. They are also less expensive than homes across Indiana’s rural regions. 59.3% of OC homes cost below $99,999. This figure is 48.1% across all rural areas of Indiana, and nationally only 24.5% of homes are valued below $100,000.

As more than 22% of houses are manufactured homes, there is likely significant volatility in utility costs for these OC homeowners as their homes tend to be far less heat efficient than standard structures. In line with the US average, 36% of OC homes are heated with electricity. Because of the much lower population density of OC compared to the national average, 33.6% of OC homes rely on gas utility service for heat (15.5% less than the US average) and 17.2% of homes use liquid propane for their heat (12.2% higher than the national average). A further 10.3% of OC homes are heated using wood (8.2% higher than the US average).

Median household income is $53,046 across the US and $38,826 for OC. 54.9% of OC households earn less than $50,000 a year (US 47.3%) Federal guidelines suggest that individuals spend no more than 30% of their gross income on housing costs (mortgage or rent plus average utilities). In OC, 30% of median income is $971/month and 20% of median income is $647/month.

Homeowners

As OC home values are quite low, the affordability of homes in OC (cost related to income) is relatively good. 22.2% of housing units carry mortgages of less than $700 a month and 57% of all homeowners spend 20% or less of their gross monthly income on housing costs. 37.6% of housing units carry monthly mortgages between $700 and $999 a month (equal to between 22% and 31% of gross monthly income). Conversely, 20.1% of housing units cost more than 30% of monthly gross salary and almost two fifths (39.6%) of OC mortgagees pay from $1,000 to over $2,000 per month for their housing costs.

Renters

There are a large number of OC residents who rent the homes they live in. Of the 7,688 occupied housing units in Orange County, 1,952, about 25%, were available to renters. Again, as with homeowners’ expenses, using the median income ratios of 20% and 30% of gross income for housing costs, the majority of rental units in OC fall within these parameters. 74.7% of rental units have gross rents (rent plus average utilities) at or below $700 per month (below about 22% of median income).

When the income of renters in occupied units is examined, 31% of renter occupied units are have a gross rental value of 20% or less of median income. 19.8% of renter occupied units have a gross rent of between 20 and 30%. A further 12.9% of units have a gross rent of 30-35% of median income and a 36.3% of renter occupied units cost tenants 35% or more of their gross income. 49.2% of all renter occupied units are considered “cost burdened” meaning the rent is 30% or more than the renter’s income. The same “cost burdened” calculation for homeowners is 20.1%. This demonstrates that the OC renter population earns below the OC median income range and considerably less than the OC homeowner population.

Orange County Home Financing

It is important to evaluate not only who can afford housing as a proportion of income, but who can qualify for home financing in Orange County. 54.3% of owner occupied units in OC have a mortgage against them (US 66.4%). The median loan amount in OC is $79,000 (US $163,000) and the median OC applicant income is $50,000 (US $83,000) which is far above the OC median income per household ($38,826).

73.7% of OC mortgages are conventional, 16.8% are FHA loans and 5.3% are VA loans (US 79.5%, 12.7%, 6.2%). 39.5% of OC mortgages are for home purchases (US 35.9%) and 57.9% are for refinanced mortgages (US 59.3%). The remaining OC mortgages (7.7%) are for home improvements (US 4.8%).

Only 49.4% of OC mortgage applications are originated (US 62.7%). 31% of OC mortgage applications are denied (US 18.7%). Of the reasons given for OC loan denial, 38.9% were due to credit history (US 24.1%), and 19.9% for collateral concerns (US 17.4%).

Conclusions

The housing market in Orange County is older than the national average and commitment to new home construction has petered out after the most recent depression. Further, standard new home construction costs now meet or surpass the market rate for local homes making investment in traditional construction a risky endeavor.

The large proportion of manufactured homes in OC indicates a need for housing of modest size and modest cost as does the high percentage of renters living in “cost burdened” units where rent is in excess of 30% of gross income.

There is a need for new, sustainable and modestly-priced housing alternatives in Orange County to move residents at median household income from the rental to homeowner market.

Report abuse