Of the 50 most populated cities in the United States, New York remains the city where it’s better to rent than buy. The Big Apple’s competition? Fort Worth, Texas. According to Trulia, an online real estate resource, buying a home has become more affordable than renting an apartment in 80 percent of major cities. Besides New York and Fort Worth, only in Kansas city is renting the preferable option. This is right behind other cities including Memphis, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

 Questions:

 1. What was the comparison that Trulia used in all the markets it looked at in terms of apartment size? Can you see any problems with the methodology it used, based on the article? 

 2. Find a house that you would be interested in buying and then try the rent or buy calculator at http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/business/buy-rent-calculator.html?_r=1&oref=slogin.  What is the most important thing that you found out when using this tool?

 3.  Look at the AGBeat article and its tables regarding the Trulia data.  Pick a city in the Price:Rent Ratios table with the biggest Quarter-Over-Quarter Movement in Favor of Homeownership.  What factors do you think are leading to these results for the specific city you chose?

Sources:

Staff (2011). Where It’s Better To Rent A Home Than Buy: Trulia, Huffington Post, April 29 (Retrievable online at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/29/housing-rent-buy-trulia-prices_n_855688.html)

Staff (2010). Is it Better to buy or rent?, New York Times, April 21 (Retrievable online at http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/business/buy-rent-calculator.html?_r=1&oref=slogin)

Staff (2011). Trulia Rent versus Buy Index reveals Homeownership to be most Advantageous, AGBeat News.com, April 29 (Retrievable online at http://agentgenius.com/real-estate-news-events/trulia-rent-versus-buy-index-reveals-homeownership-to-be-most-advantageous/)