Believe it or not, buying has actually gotten cheaper for the U.S.'s 100 largest metropolitan areas. On the national level, buying is now 35 percent cheaper when compared to renting, while it was 33 percent cheaper a year ago. According to a new study from Trulia, for the D.C. area, buying is 32 percent cheaper than renting. Renting in Washington, D.C. has become more and more difficult over the years with prices rising and wages staying the same. It was just this past March that Curbed reported that Washington, D.C. has the fourth most expensive median rent out of every Metropolitan city in the country. The number of renters in the D.C. area who spend more than half their income on rent has risen so much that it's affecting every income level.
Of course, there are ways that renting can be less expensive than buying. According to Urban Turf, home prices are rising faster than rents, and it takes a five-year commitment for buying to make financial sense. For Trulia to gather their data, they compared the average rent and for-sale prices of identical properties, while assuming that buyers will have a 3.87 percent rate on a 30-year mortgage.
· Where HOA Fees Make Renting Cheaper Than Buying a Home [Trulia]
· Trulia: Buying 32% Cheaper Than Renting in DC Area [Urban Turf]
· Hey, Millennials! Here's Good News About Your Rent for Once [Curbed DC]
· Washington, D.C. Has the Fourth Highest Rents in the Nation [Curbed DC]
· Washingtonians Spent Over $13 Billion on Rent in 2014 [Curbed DC]