Tag Archives: Renters

The average American renter can now purchase a home more expensive than the nation’s median home value, while keeping their monthly housing budget the same. This was true in 37 out of 50 markets analyzed. The current national median rent is $1,416 per month—just enough to handle the monthly costs of a property valued at $289,505, including property taxes, maintenance, and insurance payments.

Down payments are holding back renters from entering the housing market. Mortgage payments tend to be considerably cheaper than a rent payment on a monthly basis, but Zillow’s Housing Aspirations Report found that 70 percent of renters across the country are find high down payment costs to be the top roadblock to homeownership.

Fifty-six percent of renters feel that now is a good time to buy a home, which is down from 57 percent last quarter, and down even further from 62 percent a year ago. Comparatively, 80 percent of homeowners feel now is a good time to buy.

The competitive homebuying market brought on by continuously short inventory supply is causing would-be buyers to keep their options open.

Home price growth, uncertainty about down payments, and tight supply are making renters less sure of whether it’s a good time to buy a home, according to one analysis.

Both current homeowners and renters agree that home values are going to continue to appreciate. However, the effect of home value appreciation on the confidence of each in the housing market is quite different.

Conventional wisdom has long suggested that renters rent because they can’t afford to buy homes. But one analysis has posed the question of whether renters are renting out of necessity or choice.

The homeownership rate in the U.S. is at its lowest rate in more than five decades at 62.9 percent, but according to new research, it doesn’t have to be that way.

An analysis of millions of credit reports comparing financial behavior patterns of those who currently rent and those who have a current mortgage revealed that tens of millions of renters might not qualify for a mortgage due to a low credit score—and that a large share of renters have other outstanding debt that is currently in collections.

Seventy percent of renters still believe that renting is more affordable than owning a home and 55 percent of renters plan to continue renting for at least the next three years, according to a Freddie Mac survey.