Affordable Housing

What are the Country’s Best Affordable Suburbs?

Nationwide, home affordability has received a serious boost from the combination of falling home prices and falling mortgage rates.

Today, because of the sagging economy, in most parts of the country, the cost of owning a home versus renting one is now very close to its historical average.

That said, though, near every major city, there are some neighborhoods in which home affordability and quality of life are stand-out. Using real estate data from OnBoard Informatics, Business Week highlights these areas in a report it calls the “Best Affordable Suburbs“.

Now, the country’s “Best Affordable Suburbs” doesn’t list the nation’s most affordable suburbs, but instead, a group of cities, towns, and villages in which the populace sits between five and sixty-thousand, and the economy, the schools, the lifestyle and the crime levels are all within a desirable range.

As concluded by Business Week, these are areas in which buying a home is a good value.
At the top of the list is Awake, Wisconsin, a suburb 20 minutes west of Milwaukee, prized for its outdoor lifestyle and healthy jobs market. The complete 50-state listing is posted at Business Week’s website.

Affordable Housing

The Relative Cost of Owning versus Renting Is Back at Historical Norms

One popular housing theory is that — before a bona fide housing recovery can begin — the cost of owning a home versus renting one must return to historical levels.

If that belief is a truth, a national return to rising home prices may be in store for 2009.

Falling home prices coupled with falling mortgage rates, too, have dropped the relative, after-tax cost of owning a home to 125% of the cost of renting a home.

This is the exact 18-year historical average and not since 2001 has the gap been this small.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal, though, the study has some flaws. For example, the data doesn’t account for ongoing home maintenance costs, nor does it consider real estate tax bills and insurance policies.

But, combining a relatively low cost of ownership with the government’s $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers is likely to convert long-time renters into never-before homeowners.

This, too, is thought to be a key element of the housing recovery.

In many markets (but not all), home prices are expected to edge lower through 2009. Provided mortgage rates stay low, the cost gap between owning and renting will shrink even more.

(Image courtesy: Wall Street Journal)

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