Photo of Portland: Used throught Creative Commons License
With all the incentives today, now is a good time to take the leap into homeownership.
As stated in Forbes Magazine, “one-third of Americans still rent their homes” and may potentially be eligable for the first-time home-buyer tax credit opportunity. Simply knowing the best places to transition from renting to buying in order to make the most sound real estate investments makes pretty good since. That’s why Forbes just published their study on the “TOP Ten Cities To Go From Renting To Buying” and we’re proud to announce that Portland Oregon (and the greater area) made it 8th on the list for best cities to go from renting to buying a home.
With outstanding home values, a greater selection to choose from, the tax credit incentives and interest rates at their lowest since the 1940′s, market conditions are without a doubt makeing it pretty easy to take a hint, “Now is the best time to buy”
In Portland, San Francisco, Minneapolis and Washington, D.C., the premium to buy–the spread between what you’d spend on renting and what you’d pay each month for a mortgage–is far narrower now than its 15-year average. And economists predict a significant home-price hike in five years. So upgrading will cost much less than usual, and home buyers are likely to get a good return on their investment.
Note that buying isn’t necessarily cheaper than renting in these metro areas. In fact, it often remains a more expensive proposition. But for those determined to own, that investment is a better one now than it normally is.
A Look Behind the Numbers & Ranking Creation:
To find cities where it’s a good time to go from renting to buying, we used data from Witten Advisors, which calculated the premium to buy for 42 Metropolitan Statistical Areas across the country using data from the U.S. Census, the National Association of Realtors and a blended average of fixed- and adjustable-rate mortgages from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (which oversees and regulates lenders). We compared the premium in the third quarter of 2009 with the average premium over the last 15 years to find the biggest drops.
We also wanted to pinpoint markets where home buying is a smart investment, so we factored in the five-year forecast in the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index from Moody‘s ( MCO – news – people )Economy.com. The cities on our list have some of the biggest discounts on the premium to buy coupled with big projected increases in home prices over the next five years.
What Forbes Said About Our City, Portland Oregon:
Portland, Ore., makes our list for much the same reason that San Francisco does: It’s a picturesque, culture-driven city with good local services and amenities. The city is still not particularly cheap for buyers–but it’s cheaper than normal.
A family hoping to put down roots there would normally pay a 62% premium to go from renting to buying. In the third quarter of 2009, however, that premium shrank by 16 percentage points. At the same time, Moody’s Economy.com anticipates that home prices will jump 19% over the next five years. That’s partly because, like San Francisco, Portland has strict government limitations on building and a coastal location that keep sprawl in check.
“Portland has one of the most controlled environments in the country in terms of development rights,” says Stuart Gabriel, director of the Ziman Center for Real Estate at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. “Those supply constraints will push prices up.”
Start searching Portland real estate for sale…
