Buying Better Than Renting in 54% of Markets

Despite rising prices, buying a home makes more sense than paying increasingly high rents in 

more than half of the U.S. Buying a median-priced home is more affordable than renting a three-bedroom property in 240 of 447—or 54 percent—of U.S. counties analyzed, according to a new report released by ATTOM Data Solutions, a real estate data firm.

Renting a three-bedroom property requires an average of nearly 39 percent of weekly wages across the 447 counties analyzed for the report. The least affordable markets for renting are: Marin County, Calif. (where it takes 79.5% of average wages to rent); Spotsylvania County, Va. (75.5%); Honolulu County, Hawaii (71.9%); Sonoma County, Calif. (67.6%); and Kings County, N.Y. (67.4%).

But a rentals are still often a better deal in highly populated areas. “Although buying is still more affordable than renting in the majority of U.S. housing markets, that majority is shrinking as home price appreciation continues to outpace rental growth in most areas,” says Daren Blomquist, vice president at ATTOM Data Solutions.

Rents rise faster than wages in 60 percent of markets

Average fair market rents rose faster than average weekly wages in 266 of the 447 counties analyzed in the report (60 percent), including Los Angeles County, California; Cook County, Illinois; Harris County, Texas; Maricopa County, Arizona; and San Diego County, California.
Average weekly wages rose faster than average fair market rents in 181 of the 447 counties analyzed in the report (40 percent), including King County (Seattle), Washington; Clark County (Las Vegas), Nevada; Bexar County (San Antonio), Texas; Middlesex County (Boston), Massachusetts; and Suffolk County (Long Island), New York.