To Rent or To Buy – That is the Question for Homeowners

To Rent or To Buy – That is the Question for Homeowners

The weight of a decision to purchase or to rent can be heavy for many potential homebuyers – especially when some buyers feel as though they have no choice but to rent, depending on where they’re currently living.

Realtor.com recently compiled a rent vs buy analysis to determine which locations in America would be more favorable to homebuyers. In their research, they compared the monthly cost of buying a home for the median listing price against the median monthly rent of two-to-four-bedroom units in the area.

Their study found that buying a home is the same or more affordable than renting in 15 of the 50 largest metros, up from 13 markets a year ago.

The top 10 markets that favor buying are as follows:

1. Cleveland, OH
2. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI
3. Pittsburg, PA
4. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA
5. Miami-For Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL
6. New Orleans-Metarie, LA
7. Baltimore-Columbia-Townson, MD
8. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL
9. Hartfor-West Hartford-East Hartfort, CT
10. Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI

The top 5 markets that favor renting are as follows:

1. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
2. Austin-Round Rock, TX
3. Sacramento-Roseville-Arden-Arcade, CA
4. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA
5. San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA

For a more thorough analysis of Realtor.com’s findings, check out their article, here.