Study: Renting makes more financial sense than buying in Kansas City
Written on June 7, 2010
Renting makes more sense than buying a home in Kansas City, according to a new study of price-to-rent ratios in the largest 50 U.S. cities.
The study results were released Thursday by Trulia Inc., a San Francisco-based real estate search firm. It calculated the price-to-rent ratios by comparing the average list prices and average rents of two-bedroom apartments, condominiums and townhomes listed on its website.
Kansas City’s price-to-rent ratio — 20 — was high enough for a No. 7 ranking on Trulia’s list of Top 10 Cities to Rent vs. Buy. New York led the list with a price-to-rent ratio of 33, followed by Omaha, 26; Seattle, 25; Portland, Ore., and San Francisco, each with 22; and Oklahoma City, 21. San Diego and Cleveland tied Kansas City with ratios of 20, and Dallas rounded out the top 10 with a ratio of 10.
“It is not a surprise to see cities like New York and San Francisco on (the top cities to rent list),” Trulia CEO Pete Flint said in a release. “But I was surprised to see areas like Omaha, Oklahoma City and Kansas City on our rental list. We’re not suggesting that it’s unwise to buy in these areas though — just that it’s significantly more expensive than renting.”
On the flip side, renting has become more expensive than buying in markets such as Miami and Phoenix, where home prices plummeted after the recent bursting of the housing bubble.
Minneapolis; Arlington and San Antonio, Texas; Miami; and Fresno, Calif., lead Trulia’s list of Top 10 Cities to Buy vs. Rent, with price-to-rent ratios of eight. Rounding out the top 10 are Mesa, Ariz., and Jacksonville, Fla., nine; Phoenix and El Paso, Texas, 10; and Las Vegas, 11.
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