Here Is Your Open Thread

An analysis by The New York Times finds that in the country’s most expensive places, including New York, the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles, buying a home again looks like a perilous investment, based on the relationship between their prices and rents or incomes. And in a longer list of areas, including Boston, Miami and Washington, prices have risen enough that buying is no longer the bargain it looked to be a few years ago.

The Times also created an online calculator that enables prospective buyers and renters to analyze their own decision. For example, for a typical person considering the purchase of a $500,000 house who expects to live there seven years, it might make more sense to rent if a similar place is available for $1,956 a month or less.

“A lot of these coastal markets look overvalued compared to rents,” said Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. “In these markets, it seems generally more attractive to rent than to buy, even as the national market is broadly well balanced.”

This online calculator the New York Times put together to help people figure out whether they should rent or buy is kind of amazing. The related story is here.

Photo: Nicholas A. Tonelli

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