Thursday, March 28, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Friday, February 21, 2020
Gap Between Buying & Renting Narrows on Big Island
By Selected News Articles @ 2:31 AM :: 5093 Views :: Hawaii County , Maui County, Hawaii Statistics, Cost of Living

Gap Between Buying & Renting Narrows in U.S.

From Point2Homes.com, February, 2020

The gap between buying and renting narrowed nationwide in the last quarter of 2019. While buying a home accounted for 30% of the national median income, renting accounted for 25%.

Lower mortgage rates and regulating home prices have made purchasing housing more affordable, representing good news for buyers who had been previously sidelined. This was despite the fact that, following years of increasing home prices, the cost to purchase a home was higher than renting in 84% of the study’s 593 U.S. counties.

At the end of Q4 2019, the monthly cost of the national median home price was $1,600, which represents 30% of the national median income – down 1% from $1,658 in the previous year. Conversely, the monthly cost to rent rose by 4% – from $1,254 to $1,319 – accounting for 25% of the median household income in both 2018 and 2019.

Where the Gap Narrowed the Most

Home-buying conditions have improved in many counties in the past year. The places that have seen the gap between buying and renting narrow the most were:

Santa Cruz County, CA
King’s County, NY
New York County, NY
Hawaii County, HI
Flagler County, FL.

Flagler was the only market in this category that was priced in line with the national rate. In Santa Cruz County, CA; King’s County, NY; and New York County, NY, home prices are far above the nation’s median listing price of $300,000, surpassing it by anywhere from 169% to 460%. And, although Hawaii County’s real estate market isn’t even one of the country’s most expensive markets, the median home price here is 43% higher than the national median.

Despite its high prices, Hawaii County's median listing price decreased by 10%. It was followed by Brooklyn’s market, where values dropped by 9%. Additionally, the price for homes in Manhattan decreased by 1% and Flagler was down by 6%. Meanwhile, in Santa Cruz County, CA, the median price slowly increased by 2%, while median rents jumped by 38%.

Most Affordable Counties for Homebuyers

In some counties, buying a home is more favorable than renting. In particular, in the top 10 counties where buying was better than renting, median listing prices were 53% lower than the national median listing price. Similarly, median rents were also lower than the national average by 11%. Danielle Hale, chief economist at realtor.com, told Yahoo Finance:

“In these areas, there are a lot of homes available for homeownership and not a lot of rental inventory. The country is facing limited building and a lack of housing availability, but these areas don’t tend to have those issues.”

Purchasing a home is most affordable in Clayton County, GA, where homebuyers spend just 18% of their household income to buy, as opposed to 32% of their income that would go toward renting. Jefferson County, NY, – where it takes 24% of a household’s income to buy versus 31% to rent – closed out the top 10.

 

Most Affordable Counties for Renters

By the end of the fourth quarter of 2019, several counties saw more attractive conditions for renting than buying. On average, median listing prices in this category were 260% higher than the national median listing price. While still high, rents here were only 79% higher than the national average. Realtor.com’s Hale said:

“In these areas, the markets are so large and well-established that, for the most part, buying comes with a huge premium. These tend to be markets that attract not only homeowners and investors, but international investors, too – like New York and California.”

As expected, New York County, NY, topped the list. Here, it takes an astounding 117% of the household income to buy a home versus 30% to rent. Moreover, seven of the top 10 counties are in California, with the Los Angeles market spending 77% of household income to buy a home as opposed to 36% to rent. The Maui real estate market took the last spot, with 64% of household income needed to purchase a home and just 30% needed to rent.

 
Links

TEXT "follow HawaiiFreePress" to 40404

Register to Vote

2aHawaii

808 Silent Majority

Aloha Pregnancy Care Center

AntiPlanner

Antonio Gramsci Reading List

A Place for Women in Waipio

Ballotpedia Hawaii

Broken Trust

Build More Hawaiian Homes Working Group

Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii

Cliff Slater's Second Opinion

DVids Hawaii

FIRE

Fix Oahu!

Frontline: The Fixers

Genetic Literacy Project

Grassroot Institute

Habele.org

Hawaii Aquarium Fish Report

Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society

Hawaii Catholic TV

Hawaii Christian Coalition

Hawaii Cigar Association

Hawaii ConCon Info

Hawaii Debt Clock

Hawaii Defense Foundation

Hawaii Family Forum

Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United

Hawaii Farmer's Daughter

Hawaii Federalist Society

Hawaii Federation of Republican Women

Hawaii History Blog

Hawaii Homeschool Association

Hawaii Jihadi Trial

Hawaii Legal News

Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance

Hawaii Matters

Hawaii's Partnership for Appropriate & Compassionate Care

Hawaii Public Charter School Network

Hawaii Rifle Association

Hawaii Shippers Council

Hawaii Smokers Alliance

Hawaii State Data Lab

Hawaii Together

HIEC.Coop

HiFiCo

Hiram Fong Papers

Homeschool Legal Defense Hawaii

Honolulu Moms for Liberty

Honolulu Navy League

Honolulu Traffic

House Minority Blog

Imua TMT

Inouye-Kwock, NYT 1992

Inside the Nature Conservancy

Inverse Condemnation

Investigative Project on Terrorism

July 4 in Hawaii

Kakaako Cares

Keep Hawaii's Heroes

Land and Power in Hawaii

Legislative Committee Analysis Tool

Lessons in Firearm Education

Lingle Years

Managed Care Matters -- Hawaii

Malama Pregnancy Center of Maui

MentalIllnessPolicy.org

Military Home Educators' Network Oahu

Missile Defense Advocacy

MIS Veterans Hawaii

NAMI Hawaii

Natatorium.org

National Christian Foundation Hawaii

National Parents Org Hawaii

NFIB Hawaii News

No GMO Means No Aloha

Not Dead Yet, Hawaii

NRA-ILA Hawaii

Oahu Alternative Transport

Obookiah

OHA Lies

Opt Out Today

OurFutureHawaii.com

Patients Rights Council Hawaii

PEACE Hawaii

People vs Machine

Practical Policy Institute of Hawaii

Pritchett Cartoons

Pro-GMO Hawaii

P.U.E.O.

RailRipoff.com

Rental by Owner Awareness Assn

ReRoute the Rail

Research Institute for Hawaii USA

Rick Hamada Show

RJ Rummel

Robotics Organizing Committee

School Choice in Hawaii

SenatorFong.com

Sink the Jones Act

Statehood for Guam

Talking Tax

Tax Foundation of Hawaii

The Real Hanabusa

Time Out Honolulu

Trustee Akina KWO Columns

UCC Truths

US Tax Foundation Hawaii Info

VAREP Honolulu

Waagey.org

West Maui Taxpayers Association

What Natalie Thinks

Whole Life Hawaii

Yes2TMT