Buying a home now costs 50% more than renting

(NewsNation) — As mortgage rates continue to surge, it’s never been more expensive to buy instead of rent.

The typical monthly new mortgage payment is now 52% higher than the average apartment rent, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a CBRE analysis.

That’s the widest cost gap between owning and renting since at least 1996, the Journal found.

The disparity has grown since the first quarter of 2022, when the premium for buying a home shot up to 20%, up from -1% just one quarter prior.

From 1996 to mid-2003, the average cost to buy or rent was more or less equal, per the Journal.

That changed in the lead to the Great Recession, when the home-buying premium surged, peaking at 33% in the second quarter of 2006.

But after the global financial crisis, low interest rates and a plentiful housing supply meant it was cheaper to buy a house than rent throughout the 2010s.

Now, mortgage rates are at their highest level in over two decades, and demand has fallen to its lowest point since 1995.

Today, someone taking out a 30-year mortgage on a $430,000 home with a 10% down payment would pay around $3,200 in monthly repayments, according to the Journal. That’s 60% more than just three years ago, whereas rents have risen by 22% over the same period.

To afford a median-priced U.S. home now, Redfin says buyers must earn $114,627. That’s up 15% ($15,285) from a year ago and up more than 50% since the pandemic.

In a city like San Francisco, where the median home sale price is nearly $1.5 million, you’ll need more than $400,000 in annual income.