Rent Vs Buy: Its All Different In Manhattan

We had written some stuff on Rent Vs Buy before - but remember, it is all relative - you always need to know the location. That makes all the difference. So we were not surprised when we spotted this today:

"in the nation as a whole, houses look like they’re a pretty good value, relative to rents, for the first time in many years. ...

The most striking thing, of course, is how expensive New York is relative to the country as a whole: that huge spike in the original chart now just looks like more of a foothill.

But it’s also clear that even with record-low interest rates, Manhattan prices are still a lot higher than Manhattan rents.

It wasn’t always that way. Rents were higher than prices from the fourth quarter of 1994 through the fourth quarter of 1999 — a full five years, during which prices rose from $227,500 to $320,000. Which in hindsight was a great time to buy, seeing as how prices now are at $775,000"

Statistics Source: FelixSalmon