An article in the NY Times advises renters are better off paying that monthly check to the landlord than actually buying property. In “A Word of Advice During a Housing Slump: Rent” writer David Leonhardt takes data from every metropolitan area (including LA) to forecast the benefits of buying vs. renting.

Leonhardt writes:

“Over the next five years, which is about the average amount of time recent buyers have remained in their homes, prices in the Los Angeles area would have to rise more than 5 percent a year for a typical buyer there to do better than a renter...”

“Renters, meanwhile, can invest what they would have spent on closing costs and a down payment in the stock market, which hasn’t exactly delivered a bad return over the last 20 years.”

The article also includes a handy calculator to compare buying and renting equivalent homes.

Last year California ranked 14th in the country for foreclosures per household according to data from foreclosure-tracking company RealtyTrac. That’s one in every 86 households.

Photo by laughingmonk