Tag Archives: Renting

Buying a home is cheaper long-term than renting an apartment in the top metropolitan areas, and a new report breaks down just how much homeowners can save.

Buying is more economical than renting a home in many markets across the United States, but how long will that be the case?

A question on the minds of many older Americans trying to find balance between their housing needs and financial situations as they prepare to retire is the decision to rent or own a home.

As the Baby Boomer generation grows older and enter those "empty-nester" years, many are swapping out their long-tome homes to enter the rental market.

A big shift from homeownership to renting has taken place nationwide since the crisis, and metros where the most foreclosures occurred were the most affected.

Ted Jones, Chief Economist—Senior Vice President for Stewart Title Guaranty Company talks about how potential home buyers could miss the boat.

On a national level, several economic conditions influence today’s market such as home price growth outpacing rent growth since 2012 (favoring the rent side of the equation) and interest rates returning to historic lows after reaching 4 percent of higher in 2013 and 2014.

Overall investor intent in April's survey showed that slightly more than half (50.4 percent) of investors preferred flipping as a strategy, while 48.3 percent of investors said they intended to employ a hold-to-rent strategy. This data compared with 53.5 percent and 44.8 percent, respectively, in Q1. "Most of the country and most investor segments performed in a manner very consistent with what we’ve seen over the past year, but investment strategies in Texas appear to have shifted pretty dramatically," Auction.com EVP Rick Sharga said.

In its February 2015 Real Estate Investor Activity Report, Auction.com reported that overall, 56 percent of investors preferred flipping compared to 42.8 percent who preferred renting. The percentage of investors surveyed in February who preferred flipping was 6 percentage points higher than in Q4 2014.

Zillow's break-even horizon analysis came to an interesting conclusion: in half of U.S. metros, buying a home is a better financial decision than renting for buyers intending to stay in their home at least two years. The company’s analysis includes all costs associated with buying versus renting, including upfront payments, closing costs, anticipated monthly rent and mortgage payments.