High Rents, Low Values: The Rent-to-Price Ratio as an Indicator of Urban Imbalance

Housing market imbalances can emerge not only in contexts of high property values, but also where relatively low real-estate prices coexist with sustained rental demand. In such situations, rents may remain disproportionately high compared with property values, generating structural tensions in local housing systems. The rent-to-price ratio (RtPR) represents a useful indicator for capturing these dynamics, as it reflects the relationship between the rental and ownership markets. This paper investigates the analytical potential of the RtPR as a diagnostic tool for identifying socio-territorial housing imbalances and housing vulnerability. The analysis tests this interpretive potential in the city of Sassari, using OMI data on property values and rents, municipal records on rental subsidy applications, and socio-demographic variables. The results show a significant association between high RtPR values and the spatial concentration of demand for housing support. These findings suggest that the RtPR can function not only as an indicator of real-estate performance, but also as a proxy for detecting spatial patterns of housing vulnerability that are not captured by property values alone. While the exploratory and cross-sectional nature of the analysis prevents causal interpretation, the paper shows how the RtPR may contribute to the construction of more sensitive diagnostic tools for housing policy. From this perspective, the final section outlines the Housing Imbalance Composite Index (HICI) as a possible future development for integrating market indicators with contextual measures of housing vulnerability and housing-stock use