The New York Times has a soul-soothing calculator that lets you know whether you’d be better off renting or buying.

According to the calculator I’m making a good choice by renting in NYC rather than trying to buy here, so that makes me feel good about myself, but housing prices here in Crazy Town haven’t fallen as much as in other places.

The Times says its now quite likely that you’d be better off buying something, particularly if you have a family and need more room.

In some once bubbly markets, prices have fallen so far that buying a home appears to be a bargain, based on a New York Times analysis of prices and rents in 54 metropolitan areas. In South Florida, Phoenix and Las Vegas, house prices — relative to rents — are as low as in places that never experienced a bubble, like Indianapolis and St. Louis.
…

The country’s two biggest metropolitan areas, New York and Los Angeles, are a microcosm of today’s more nuanced real estate market. Average house prices across both areas have fallen enough that buying may now be a good deal for many families. Yet there are still significant pockets where renting looks promising — including parts of Manhattan, the New York suburbs and Orange County, Calif.

I will now end this post before I impulse buy a house back home and live happily ever after munching delicious Italian Beef sammiches.

Check out the calculator here.

In Sour Home Market, Buying Often Beats Renting [NYT]

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