It’s now cheaper to rent than buy in the 50 largest US Metro areas, reports show

ATLANTA — The 50 largest metro areas in America all have at least one thing in common, it is more expensive to buy a starter home than rent on a month-to-month basis.

The report from Realtor.com examined the 50 top metro areas and compared the median monthly payment for a starter home with apartments.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

“We found that in all 50 of the 50 largest us metros, it is more affordable to rent than to buy a home in today’s market,” says Hannah Jones, Realtor.com senior economic research analyst. “A combination of elevated mortgage rates and climbing home prices have made it such that buying a home is just so much more expensive than renting in a majority of us.”

The report found that Atlanta was in the middle of the pack. The average monthly payment for a starter home costs around $840 more a month than renting.

“We saw the cost of purchasing a home that monthly payment is 52 percent higher than the rent,” Jones said.

Those numbers are not a surprise to Cedrick Thomas.

“You see the prices...$400,000, $500,000, starting at $700′s,” Thomas said. “It’s not even worth looking at it because you couldn’t even afford it.”

Thomas is 26 and college-educated but does not know if homeownership will ever be in his future.

TRENDING STORIES:

• Remains found in Newton County identified as missing 20-year-old man
• Pregnant Ga. Chick-fil-A manager, unborn child killed in crash hours before baby shower
• Bill saying squatters should be charged with trespassing passes Ga. Senate, on to governor

“I did want to own a home, but getting older, it’s getting less and less feasible. It’s looking like renting is the better option all around,” Thomas said.

He says the American dream of owning a home with a white picket fence may be long gone and replaced with something much more basic.

“It’s now if you have a place to call your own...that’s the dream at this point. Just affording to move out of your mother’s house is the American dream,” Thomas said.

[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]

IN OTHER NEWS:

Roswell City Council and USL reps working out a deal to bring soccer teams, new stadium to the city

©2023 Cox Media Group