Why RENT? It's cheaper to BUY!

The number of renters dedicating at least half of their income toward housing hit a record high of 11 million people in 2014, according to the annual State of the Nation's Housing Report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. Finance experts generally suggest budgeting around 30 percent of monthly income to cover housing costs. But that's getting harder to do with rent prices rising faster than wages. More affluent renters are staying in the rental market longer and driving up the demand for housing while the wealthy would move on to become homeowners. But tight inventory in the housing market is keeping them in rentals longer and developers are focusing on building luxury apartments that tend to provide a higher return on investment. That's dragging overall rents higher and leaving a dearth of affordable rentals. In 2015 the median rent on a new apartment is $1,381 which means a renter would have to make at least $55,000 a year to be able to afford the rent while the typical renter making about $34,000 a year, that means an affordable rental would be about $850. While renters are paying more, affordability is improving for those who own their homes.