Source: globest.com | Re-Post MNM Partners, LLC 1/11/2019 –
US homeownership has been on the decline since the Great Recession for many reasons including new lifestyle preferences and increasingly, affordability. A new report by ATTOM Data Solution highlights the latter, making it ever more clear that we are indeed becoming a renter nation. It has found that renting a three-bedroom property is more affordable than buying a median-priced home in 442 of 755, or 59%, of US counties, analyzed, according to its newly-released 2019 Rental Affordability Report.
Jennifer von Pohlmann, director of content and PR at ATTOM Data Solutions, explains the reason why: “With home price appreciation increasing annually at an average of 6.7% in those counties analyzed for this report and rental rates increasing an average of 3.5%, coupled with the fact that home prices are outpacing wages in 80% of the counties, renting a home is clearly becoming the more attractive option in this volatile housing market.”
The analysis incorporated recently released fair market rent data for 2019 from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and public record sales deed data.