ATTOM Data Solutions’ 2020 Rental Affordability Report just released reveals the split between different-sized markets, with home ownership more affordable mainly in lightly populated counties and renting more affordable in more populous suburban or urban areas.
According to the analysis, owning a median-priced, three-bedroom home is more affordable than renting a three-bedroom property in 455, or 53 percent, of the 855 U.S. counties analyzed for the report.
However, among the 136 counties analyzed in the report with a population of at least 500,000 or more, renting is more affordable than buying a home in 94, or 69 percent. Particularly in the more populous counties, those with at least 1 million or more people, renting remains the more affordable option in 36 of the 43 counties, or 84 percent.
The report cited recently released fair market rent data for 2020 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics along with public record sales deed data from ATTOM Data Solutions in 855 U.S. counties with sufficient home sales data.
ATTOM’s 2020 rental affordability analysis also reported that renting a three-bedroom property requires an average of 37.6 percent of weekly wages across the 855 counties analyzed for the report.
Among counties with a population of 1 million or more, those most affordable for renting are Allegheny County (Pittsburgh), PA (24.3 percent); Cuyahoga County (Cleveland), OH (25.6 percent); Fulton County (Atlanta), GA (26.2 percent); Oakland County, MI (outside Detroit) (26.6 percent) and Wayne County (Detroit), MI (27.5 percent).
Here are the other most populous areas that make up the top 10 most affordable rental markets in 2020: Harris County, TX (28.2 percent); Mecklenburg County, NC (28.8 percent); Franklin County, OH (29.4 percent); Philadelphia County, PA (30.4 percent) and Hennepin County, MN (32.0 percent).
According to the report, the counties with a population of at least 1 million, where rents consume the highest percentage of average wages, include Kings County (Brooklyn), NY (65.3 percent); Orange County, CA (outside Los Angeles) (64.7 percent); San Diego County, CA (59.6 percent); Contra Costa County, CA (outside San Francisco) (58.4 percent) and Queens County, NY (57.4 percent).
Here are the other most populous areas that make up the top 10 least affordable rental markets in 2020: Bronx County, NY (55.9 percent); Suffolk County, NY (55.0 percent); Broward County, FL (53.8 percent); Los Angeles County, CA (53.2 percent) and Nassau County, NY (52.4 percent).
ATTOM’s 2020 rental affordability report also noted that home prices are rising faster than rents in 67 percent of markets and faster than wages in 66 percent of markets.
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