News Mortgage News Homeownership More Affordable Than Renting—For Now Buying a home starts to lose its advantage as prices and mortgage rates creep up By The Balance Editors The Balance Editors We’re a team of writers and editors with decades of experience researching and answering questions about personal finances. We believe everyone should feel confident when making money decisions, and that passion drives us to make The Balance the best place to learn about finances. learn about our editorial policies Published on January 6, 2022 Photo: Maskot / Getty Images Is buying or renting the best way to afford a home? The answer isn’t simple, and it depends mainly on where in the country you live, according to a new analysis of home affordability. The ownership costs of a newly purchased three-bedroom home were more affordable than renting an equivalent property in 58% of U.S. counties studied by ATTOM Data, a real estate data firm. Despite rising home prices, monthly homeownership costs—including the mortgage, property taxes, and insurance—consumed a smaller share of the average local wage than rent did in most of the country, ATTOM said in a report released Thursday. However, the reverse was true in most major metropolitan areas like Los Angeles and Chicago, the report found. The results were mixed because of the many moving parts that go into the affordability equation. Most of them—such as home prices, rent, wages, and even homeowners insurance bills—have been rising lately. The low mortgage rates that have kept home loan borrowing costs down have also begun to creep up, though they’re still low enough to help buyers. After taking all this into account, homeownership has begun to lose its affordability advantage over renting, with median home prices rising faster than rents in 88% of counties—a trend with implications for the future of the housing market. “The trend is slowly shifting toward renters, which could be a major force in easing price increases in 2022,” said Todd Teta, chief product officer with ATTOM, in a release. “Prices can only go up by so much more before renting becomes financially easier. For now, though, rising wages and interest rates around 3 percent are enough to offset recent price runups and keep ownership on the plus side of the affordability ledger compared to renting.” Indeed, the bills on a typical newly bought home have been eating up bigger and bigger shares of average paychecks. Major ownership costs took up 25.2% of the average national wage of $65,546 in the fourth quarter of 2021, ATTOM said in a separate report last week, up from 24.4% in the third quarter. That’s short of the 28% that lenders use as a benchmark for affordability, ATTOM said. But it’s headed in the wrong direction. Have a question, comment, or story to share? You can reach Diccon at dhyatt@thebalance.com. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit Sources The Balance uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. ATTOM. “Home Ownership More Affordable Than Renting in Most Markets.” ATTOM. “Homeownership Still Less Affordable As Prices Keep Soaring.”