Realtor.com® February Rental Report: Renting Now Beats Buying in All of the Largest U.S. Metros

SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 26, 2024

SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 26, 2024  /PRNewswire/ -- Elevated mortgage interest rates, still-high home prices and falling rents have made it more affordable to rent than buy in all of the top 50 U.S. metros, according to the Realtor.com^® Rental Report released today. In February, the mortgage payment on a starter home in the largest metros cost $1,027 (+60.1%) more than the monthly rent in those markets, on average. At the same time last year, 45 metros favored renting.

The top 10 metros with the largest rent versus buy savings (see below for top 50 metros):
1.    Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, Texas – $2,165 monthly rent savings (141.5% difference)
2.    Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash. – $2,422 (121.1%)
3.    Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, Ariz. – $1,528 (99.0%)
4.    San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, Calif. – $2,689 (95.5%)
5.    Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, Calif. – $2,539 (89.7%)
6.    San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif. – $2,780 (86.7%)
7.    Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, Tenn. – $1,366 (86.0%)
8.    Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, Ore. Wash. – $1,396 (84.4%)
9.    Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, Calif.  –  $1,514 (82.1%)
10.  Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas – $1,103 (80.0%)

"With rents continuing to fall and the cost of buying a home remaining high, exacerbated by the rise in mortgage rates in the later half of 2023, renting a home is now a more cost-effective option in all major U.S. markets," said Danielle Hale, Chief Economist at Realtor.com^®. "Deciding whether to rent or buy often goes beyond a financial advantage though, and likely depends on a consumer's circumstances. Renters often prize flexibility while the biggest reasons homebuyers cite are that they want a place of their own and to be closer to family and friends. The financial scales have tipped monthly costs in favor of renting over buying, but it does not bring the benefit of housing wealth gains over time that owning does and movers should consider their long-term housing plans and personal situation as they make this decision."

The overall advantage of renting continues to grow in most markets
In February, the cost of buying a starter home in the top 50 metros was $1,027 (60.1%) higher than renting one; comparatively, the cost to buy was $865 higher than renting in February 2023 – a $162 higher monthly savings from renting compared to the prior year. The savings are mostly driven by declining rent prices and higher buying costs, especially interest rates – the 30-year fixed mortgage rate remained elevated at 6.78% in February 2024 compared to 6.26% 12 months ago. 

The advantages of renting have become more pronounced across the top metros. Looking specifically at the top 10 metros that favor renting over buying, the average monthly costs for buying a starter home were $1,950 (95.6%) higher than rents – nearly double the cost. Those metros are mostly markets with a higher concentration of tech workers and high earners, where both the average rent and buy costs are higher than the national average.

Renting beats buying in all major metros, especially in south and west; five metros flip from last year
In February, median rents fell across all unit sizes. Despite seven months of annual rent declines, median rents are still $252 (17.3%) higher than the same time in 2020, before the onset of the pandemic. Last February, 45 metros favored renting, but over the past 12 months Memphis, Tenn, Birmingham, Ala., Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Baltimore metros flipped from favoring buying to favoring renting. Four out of five of those markets were among the top markets seeing a high share of investor activity, which may have accelerated the growth of home prices there and increased the overall costs of buying a home, tilting those markets further toward favoring renting over buying.