5 Housing Markets Where Renting Beats Owning

By AnnaMaria Andriotis

In theory, plummeting home prices and record-low interest rates should make buying a home cheaper than renting one. But experts say in some parts of the country, it still pays to be a tenant.
Despite the incentives to buy now — namely that average rates on a 30-year mortgages are now 3.7% — sales of single-family existing homes slipped 1.5% in May from a month earlier, according to data released today by the National Association of Realtors. Experts say the drop, which came during the historically busy spring season, suggests the housing market has a way to go to recover. If anything, the ranks of American homeowners are dwindling. The homeownership rate in the U.S. fell slightly from 66% to 65% during the first quarter of 2012 — the lowest in 15 years, according to the latest data by the U.S. Census. (It peaked at just over 69% in 2004.)

Renters, meanwhile, have more inventory to choose from as owners who are unable to sell their homes often have no choice but to find tenants, says Dan McCue, research manager at Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

READ MORE:   http://blogs.smartmoney.com/advice/2012/06/21/5-housing-markets-where-renting-beats-owning/