With prices at 20-year lows, Las Vegas ranks as the best city in the country to buy a home instead of renting, a survey by San Francisco-based Trulia.com real estate listing service shows. Home ownership beats renting in 74 percent of 50 major U.S. cities included in Trulia's Summer 2011 Rent vs. Buy Index, which compares the cost of buying and renting a two-bedroom apartment, condo or townhouse. Joining Las Vegas in the top five cities are Detroit; Mesa, Ariz.; Fresno, Calif.; and Arlington, Texas. Las Vegas came in with a price-to-rent ratio of 6, based on Trulia's median list price of $58,000 divided by $9,700 for 12 months of rent, or about $800 a month.
"Homes in Las Vegas are a bargain by any criteria you want to apply -- comparative price approach to other cities, cost to replicate, investment approach," Murphy said. "That's why we're selling 50,000-plus resale homes each of the past two years. The only problem is, you need cash to be a buyer in this market because of high unemployment and lenders who don't really want to lend." Today's record-low mortgage rates have actually made banks less enthusiastic about approving residential mortgage applications. Until a middle ground on lending practices can be met, many highly qualified buyers may be forced to be renters for now.
The five cities where it's clearly better to rent than buy are New York; Fort Worth, Texas; Omaha, Neb.; Seattle; and San Francisco. MadOne
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