San Francisco Real Estate - Janice Lee

To Rent or To Buy? That Is the Question   While sources may differ about how positive the move in the residential housing market has been, they mostly concur that the worst is behind us and we are in recovery. Last year ended on a positive note, with C.A.R. reporting a 27 percent year-over-year increase in median price, and this year is not off to a bad start, with a January median price of $337,040—24 percent higher than the January 2012 median price.  Home sales made more modest progress, ending 2012 with a one percent year-over-year gain in December.  Due to the constrained supply of inventory, sales declined to 491,720 in January 2013—a 3.9 percent drop from 511,760 a year ago. Exhibit 1: Median Home Price and Home Sales With the housing market on its way to prosperity again, consumers are contemplating whether it is more beneficial to buy a property now or continue renting. To assist with this decision, C.A.R. has looked at the costs and benefits...

The Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University recently released its annual “ State of the Nation’s Housing ” study. The report noted a number of interesting trends, including the fact that the nation’s housing markets are showing definitive signs of a turnaround. But one of the things that really caught my attention was the fact that it’s now considerably cheaper to own a home than to rent the same home – something that was unheard of as recently as 2008.