Here’s a fun interactive map to play with if you or someone you know is considering buying a house.
Zillow says that in almost 6o percent of U.S. metropolitan regions, buying will financially beat renting a home in three years or less. You can click on any of the 257 areas of the map to find out about your own residential target zone, as viewed in the third quarter of 2012.
“If you plan on staying in a home longer than the breakeven horizon, buying is the more financially advantageous choice. If the breakeven horizon is longer than your anticipated tenure in a home, then renting is the way to go. We took into consideration all the costs associated with buying a home (down payment, maintenance, appreciation etc.) and renting the same home (rental payments, transaction costs, appreciation etc.) to determine this breakeven horizon,” Zillow says.
Zillow defines the breakeven horizon as the number of years after which buying is more financially advantageous than renting. The presumption is that the homeowner has a 30-year fixed mortgage.
If you’re heading to the Big Apple, consider renting. Going to the Motor City? Look for a real estate agent:
New York has the longest breakeven horizon at almost five years, Zillow says.
“Detroit has a breakeven horizon of 1.7 years, the lowest horizon among the top 30 metros. Therefore, buying in Detroit ends up being more advantageous than renting for many consumers,” the real estate website adds.
If you play with Zillow’s table that sits below the map, you can set the breakeven horizon average by cities or by the whole nation. But you might not want to pack that Hawaiian shirt any time, soon. Puako, Hawaii, tops the list at 22.8 years.
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