So, Zillow has published what they call a “breakeven horizon”, that is, the number of years that they say you must stay in a house before you save money by buying vs. renting. The results are sorted by metropolitan area. Results seem pretty correlated with general real estate prices though… surprise (?).
Methodology:
http://www.zillow.com/blog/research/2012/08/01/buy-versus-rent-breakeven-analysis-methodology-2/
Results:
http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/prnewswire/press_releases/Washington/2012/08/02/SF50892
30 Largest Metropolitan Areas Covered by Zillow
Avg. Breakeven Horizon (yrs.)
City Level Variance
High
Low
New York
5.1
24.1
1.4
Los Angeles
4.3
14.0
1.7
Chicago
2.8
13.3
1.0
Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas
2.1
10.6
1.0
Philadelphia
3.0
11.1
1.0
Washington
3.5
9.5
1.3
Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
1.6
6.6
1.0
Atlanta
2.5
7.7
1.1
Boston
4.3
16.5
2.1
San Francisco
5.9
24.3
2.0
Detroit
1.7
11.2
1.0
Riverside, Calif.
2.0
4.0
1.0
Phoenix
1.7
4.8
1.0
Seattle
4.0
20.7
2.3
Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.
2.7
12.8
1.1
San Diego
3.6
6.8
1.1
Tampa, Fla.
1.6
3.9
1.0
St. Louis
2.5
11.3
1.0
Baltimore
2.8
25.8
1.9
Denver
2.5
6.8
1.5
Pittsburgh
2.1
12.7
1.0
Portland, Ore.
3.5
5.3
1.4
Sacramento, Calif.
3.1
12.6
1.2
Orlando, Fla.
1.7
4.1
1.0
Cincinnati, Ohio
2.1
11.8
1.0
Cleveland
2.4
16.9
1.6
Las Vegas
1.7
2.7
1.3
San Jose, Calif.
8.3
27.2
2.6
Columbus, Ohio
2.4
8.3
1.5
Charlotte, N.C.
2.7
4.3
1.4