10 Counties Where Buying Is Better

The new ranking lists 10 U.S. counties where buying a home makes more financial sense than renting one, based on Realtor.com’s Q1 2019 Rent vs. Buy report data.

Even though home prices are appreciating faster than rent hikes, (median monthly housing costs grew 6 percent annually versus annual rent growth rate of four percent), buying a home is a better money move in 10 of the nation's biggest counties, mostly located in the Midwest and the South. Homes on CNBC's list cost an average $120,000, about 60 percent below the national median of $300,000.

More Americans are renting than at any point in the past 50 years, thanks in part to rising home prices. But there are a few parts of the country where it might make more financial sense to buy.

“The monthly costs of buying a home are cheaper than renting in 20 percent of counties” with populations over 100,000, according to Realtor.com’s report, which compared the monthly median costs of both to the median incomes of people in 3,143 U.S. counties.

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