SmartAsset: Better to buy a home, than rent in Providence County

PROVIDENCE – It’s better to buy a home than rent one in Providence County, according to financial technology company SmartAsset.
In Providence County, the average mortgage payment is $669, while the average rent is nearly double at $1,300. The average home price is around $165,000.
But it was Providence County’s “break-even point,” the point at which the total costs of renting become greater than the total costs of buying, at 3.5 years, that really makes it the best place to buy, SmartAsset said.
Kent County is next on the list, with an average mortgage payment of $638, compared with average rent of $1,268. There, the average home price is $157,486, and the break-even year is 3.7.
Newport County’s average mortgage payment was pegged at $1,077, and rent at $1,563, with the average home cost at $265,585 and break-even year at 4.4.
Bristol County followed with an average mortgage payment of $773 and rent at $1,268, with the average home price at $190,809 and break-even year at 4.7.
Washington County was last, with mortgage payments and rent payments only about $300 apart – $999 and $1,280. In Washington County, the average home cost is $246,528 and break-even year is the longest at 6.3.
But 6.3 years pales in comparison to New York City, where it takes 18.3 years to recoup the costs of buying.
On the other end of the spectrum, Philadelphia and Detroit had among the lowest break-even points for major cities, at 2.9 and 2.6 years, respectively.
“Both have seen their populations fall in absolute terms in the past 50 years (Philly’s by 25 percent and Detroit’s by 50 percent). The result is a housing supply far larger than demand, and, in turn, bargain basement prices. On average, a resident of either of these cities should only stay in a rental if she might be moving in the next three years,” SmartAsset said.

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