At the release of ATTOM Data Solutions’ 2019 Rental Affordability Report and its indications that home price appreciation increased annually at an average of +6.7% and rent rates increased annually at an average of +3.5%, Jennifer von Rohlmann, ATTOM’s director of content and public relations, said, “The American Dream of owning a house may be just that – a dream.”
ATTOM’s latest Buy vs. Rent Report studied data from HUD fair market rent data, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics on wage data and sales deed data in 750 counties around the country to come to its conclusions.
ATTOM found that renting was more affordable than buying in 59% of US housing markets. The most affordable counties with 1M people for 3-bedroom units are…
- Roanolo County in TN (Knoxville) is near the Oak Ridge National Lab and is the backdrop of the Great Smokey Mountains. 19.7% of wages go to rent
- Peoria County in IL – 23.8% of wages go to rent
- Miming County TN – 23.8% of wages go to rent
- Green County OH (Dayton) –24.2% of wages go to rent.
- Rhea County TN – 24.6% of wages go to rent.
On the other hand, ATTOM found that the most unaffordable rental markets when factoring in wages are
- Santa Cruz County CA – 81.7% of wages go to rent
- Honolulu County HI – 74.4% of wages go to rent
- Spotsylvania County VA – 73% of wages go to rent
- Maui County HI – 69.5% of wages go to rent
- San Benito County CA – 68.6% of wages go to rent
Additional data points worth attending to in ATTOM’s 2019 Rental Affordability Report include
- Rent growth is outpacing wage growth in 52% of US markets.
- Home prices are outpacing wages in 80% of US markets.
- Median home prices are growing faster than wages in 601 out of 755 US housing markets.
- Home prices are growing faster than rents in 70% or 531 of 755 US housing markets.
