Got big city dreams? You might be better off renting or moving to the Rust Belt, according to a report from Attom Data Solutions. The more people in the city, the more attractive renting becomes as housing prices rise, with Florida and the Rust Belt as exceptions. For 36 of the 43 counties that have a population of 1 million or more, renting is the more affordable option, and experts say it may become even more favorable as increasing housing prices outpace both wages and rent in much of the country, meaning focusing on multifamily construction may benefit builders in large cities.
Buying a home isn’t necessarily your ticket to more affordable living.
A new report from real-estate data provider Attom Data Solutions found that buying a median-priced, three-bedroom home was more affordable than renting in only 53% of the 855 counties analyzed across the U.S., making renting in the other counties the more affordable option.
Attom’s analysis incorporated its own sales-deed data, 2020 fair-market rent data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.“Home ownership is a better deal than renting for the average wage earner in a slim majority of U.S. housing markets,” Todd Teta, chief product officer at Attom Data Solutions, said in the report.
“Either buying or renting is a financial stretch or out of reach for individual wage earners throughout most of the country in the current climate,” he added. “But with interest rates falling, owning a home can still be the more affordable option, even as prices keep rising.”
