Trulia: It’s cheaper to buy than rent in Miami

Miami tops the list of places in the country where it’s cheaper to own than rent a home, according to Trulia.com’s latest Rent vs. Buy Index.

The San Francisco-based real estate website noted that the foreclosure crisis has pushed many homeowners to become renters, thus jacking up the cost of rentals.

“Following the principles of supply and demand, renting has become relatively more expensive than buying in most markets,” Trulia CEO and co-founder Pete Flint said in a news release.

In fact, Trulia found that it is more affordable to buy than rent a two-bedroom home in 72 percent of America’s 50 largest cities.

Trulia said it calculates the price-to-rent ratio for the 50 largest U.S. cities using the median list price compared with the median rent price on two-bedroom apartments, condos and townhomes listed on its website.

The median sales price for homes in Miami was $185,000. The average list price for homes for sale in Miami on Trulia is $402,603. The median sales price decreased 38.3 percent compared to the prior year based on 4,142 sales, which is up 20.1 percent compared to the prior year.

Other cities where it’s cheaper to buy than rent are:

Las Vegas
Arlington, Texas
Mesa, Ariz.
Phoenix
Jacksonville
Sacramento, Calif.
San Antonio
Fresno, Calif.
El Paso, Texas
On the flip side, Trulia found that renting is only less expensive than buying in four cities: New York, Seattle, Kansas City and San Francisco.

Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2011/01/25/trulia-its-cheaper-to-buy-than-rent.html