RISMEDIA, October 12, 2010—Trulia.com, a leading site for home buyers, sellers and renters, recently released the results from its Rent vs. Buy Index, which tracks whether buying a home or renting is less expensive in America’s 50 largest cities, based on current market conditions. “Choosing to buy a home or continuing to rent is a highly personal financial and life decision that many people are grappling with right now,” said Pete Flint, CEO and co-founder of Trulia. “In the wake of the foreclosure crisis and ongoing struggles in the industry, we created the Rent vs. Buy Index to provide a bit more context about current marketplace conditions to help prospective buyers make the right decisions for their own personal situations.”
Trulia calculates the price-to-rent ratio using the average list price compared with the average rent of two-bedroom apartments, condos and townhomes listed on Trulia.com. To create the list, Trulia analyzed the largest 50 U.S. cities by population.
High foreclosure rates, falling home prices and widespread unemployment have led to multiple Florida and Arizona cities reporting homeownership as more affordable than renting; Detroit and Columbus also made the list of Top 10 Cities for homeownership affordability compared with renting for similar reasons. On the other end of the affordability spectrum, owning is significantly more expensive than renting in national and regional job centers like New York, Omaha and Seattle.
“Higher prices of homeownership in cities like Omaha and Seattle reflect the fundamental real estate truth that people want to live where jobs are relatively plentiful,” said Tara-Nicholle Nelson, consumer educator, Trulia. “Workforce demand has kept prices in these cities at a higher level, relative to other large American cities with less healthy job markets—Omaha, for example, has reported unemployment rates significantly lower than national averages.”
The Lone Star State reported interesting complexities with regard to statewide figures for the relative affordability of homeownership, as four Texas cities fell within the top 20 cities where owning is more affordable than renting. In fact, Arlington topped the list of large American cities in which buying is more affordable than renting; El Paso wasn’t far behind at number nine. However, Fort Worth ranked as the nation’s third most rent-favorable city.
For more information, visit www.trulia.com.
