It's Cheaper to Rent Than Buy in Every Big US Metro Area

It's a housing market milestone: Renting now beats buying in all 50 of the biggest metro areas in the US, a new report by Realtor.com says. Quartz helps break down the findings:

• Last year, residents in 45 of the biggest 50 metro areas fared better through renting, but the five holdouts have since flipped: Memphis, Tennessee; Birmingham, Alabama; Pittsburgh; St. Louis; and Baltimore.
• The median rent in the metro areas was $1,708 per month in February, down $50 from its peak in August 2022. Rental costs have been dropping steadily year-over-year over the last seven months.
• Because of rising home prices, it now costs about $1,027 more per month to own a starter home than to rent one in the metro areas, a figure that has grown by $162 in a year.

• The cost of buying over renting was most stark in the area of Austin, Texas (141.5% difference), and also in Seattle (121.1%) and Phoenix (99%).
• The reasons behind the fact that buying a home remains less cost-effective are real estate's usual suspects: high mortgage rates and low inventory. Average rates are currently hovering around 7% after slight increases. "The Fed is not in a hurry to start cutting interest rates, as the progress toward 2% inflation has encountered some turbulence," says Bankrate analyst Greg McBride.

(More real estate stories.)