Apartment Rent Data And Analysis - Rent Jungle » Rent vs Buy

Is Now a Good Time To Buy A House?

Rent Jungle — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:57:41 +0000

The WSJ put together a great Q&A on whether now is the right time to move from renting to buying. General gist is that renting is still a great deal due to the amount of incentives that are given today. From the article

“Generally, it doesn’t make sense to buy unless you expect to remain in the house for at least four or five years, because the transaction costs — including commissions for real estate agents and mortgage fees — are heavy.

But now is clearly a good time to rent. Many landlords need tenants badly. The national apartment-vacancy rate in the third quarter was 7.8%, the highest in 23 years, according to Reis Inc., a New York research firm. So landlords are cutting rents and offering such sweeteners as free flat-screen televisions or several months of free rent to retain or attract tenants”

Best Cities to Get Back on Your Feet – October, 2009

Rent Jungle — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:32:21 +0000

Losing a job and losing a home can be devastating. Unfortunately, this has been a tragic reality for many Americans. To help them out, Rentjungle.com has compiled a list of best cities for starting over. The survey measured such indicators as average rents and home values, median incomes and unemployment rates. Topping the list of best places to get back on your feet were Indianapolis, Pittsburgh and Oklahoma City. All three boast high income ranks (24, 33 and 40 respectively) and low rent ranks (6, 12 and 4). The worst cities for new beginnings were Los Angeles, Miami and New York. Income ranks for these three cities were 35, 44 and 30, but rent ranks were 41, 38 and 45. With this information in hand, Rentjungle.com hopes people can better decide if moving to a new city might be in order.

Best Cities To Get Back On Your Feet

Rank	City	Average Rent	Median Home Value	Median Income	Unemployment
1	Indianapolis	735	100,988	65,100	8.7
2	Pittsburgh	775	92,107	60,000	7.8
3	Oklahoma City	716	119,613	55,300	5.9
4	Cincinnati	692	102,555	66,200	10.3
5	Omaha	773	187,972	67,100	5.3
6	San Antonio	754	98,335	49,100	6.9
7	Kansas City	825	114,373	67,800	8.9
8	Hartford	963	140,799	81,100	8.2
9	Cleveland	757	75,580	62,100	9.3
10	Baltimore	1,118	127,781	78,200	8.0

Worst Cities To Get Back On Your Feet

Rank	City	Average Rent	Average Home Value	Median Income	Unemployment
1	Los Angeles	1,651	391,906	59,800	11.7
2	Miami	1,513	189,579	49,200	10.8
3	New York	2,458	440,805	63,000	9.1
4	San Francisco	1,814	681,869	94,300	10.5
5	Chicago	1,614	207,050	71,100	10.6
6	San Diego	1,477	375,025	72,100	10.3
7	Orlando	944	129,740	59,200	11.0
8	Tampa	944	127,587	56,500	11.3
9	Oakland	1,518	348,674	94,300	10.5
10	Charlotte	911	155,530	64,300	12.4

In order to scour the million-plus rental ads on the Internet, Rentjungle.com employs innovate spidering technology that can detect both when new rentals come on the market and when rents for a particular property change. All of this data is analyzed and stored in order to keep users abreast of the latest happenings in the rental market. Trends can be tracked by city and by neighborhood, furthering the site’s value to users. Lastly, users can see searches on an easy, interactive map that links to satellite street views. They can get an idea of what awaits outside their front window without having to physically visit the place—especially useful if they’re moving to a new city or want to apartment hunt at 2am.

Best Cities to Rent vs Buy – September, 2009

Rent Jungle — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:14:12 +0000

Knowing whether to sign a lease or a stack of mortgage papers is not always clear. But Rentjungle.com is shedding light on the matter with a new guide to cities that compares renting versus buying by considering the combined cost of average mortgages, taxes and insurance and comparing those to average rents. Much of this data is drawn from the over 1 million apartment ads Rentjungle.com analyzes each month. As of September, the best places to dive into the home market were Houston and Cleveland. In these cities, buying is 52% and 40% cheaper than renting. In contrast, the housing markets in San Francisco and Seattle are so hot that in the former it’s 54% cheaper to rent and in the latter it’s 49%.

Top Cities to Rent

Rank	City	2 Bed Rental + Insurance	Mortgage+Taxes+Insurance	% Cheaper to Rent
1	San Francisco	1,816	3,945	54%
2	Seattle	1,153	2,259	49%
3	Honolulu	1,601	2,813	43%
4	Anchorage	1,189	1,810	34%
5	Omaha	715	1,082	34%
6	Raleigh	774	1,169	34%
7	San Diego	1,474	2,221	34%
8	Albuquerque	752	1,134	34%
9	Colorado Springs	737	1,105	33%
10	Austin	1,003	1,448	31%

Top Cities to Buy

Rank	City	2 Bed Rental + Insurance	Mortgage+Taxes+Insurance	% Cheaper to Buy
1	Houston	1,207	793	52%
2	Cleveland	739	527	40%
3	Dallas	1,408	1,014	39%
4	Detroit	804	618	30%
5	Chicago	1,673	1,302	29%
6	New Orleans	1,050	846	24%
7	Pittsburgh	788	645	22%
8	Baltimore	1,136	977	16%
9	Louisville	743	681	9%
10	Kansas City	787	740	6%