Buying a home vs. Renting: Which is better?

Buying your home is one of the biggest financial decisions of your life. However, it is a big commitment and there are a lot of hidden costs and factors that can make it unaffordable for some. Because of the costliness of buying a home outright, many buyers turn to renting instead, especially in expensive housing markets like London, New York, and Hong Kong. Determining which option is best for you depends on a variety of factors, and not everyone’s situation is alike. To help with this important decision, let’s take a look at some of the key differences between buying and renting.

Buying

When buying a house, it’s likely you’ll need to apply for a mortgage. To get a mortgage, you need a deposit (usually at least 10% of the home’s value) and a steady income in order to make repayments. The greater your deposit and income, the more your bank or lender will be able to offer you. However, if you live in an expensive area, or have a low salary and little savings, buying may not be for …

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Renting vs. Buying

A current issue revolving around Irish news is whether to increase the supply of rental or property ownership. It is well known that there is a shortage in properties available, but just trying to produce as many properties as possible is not the solution. Careful review of the issue needs to take place by the government and necessary legislation would follow. Some factors to consider include; land zoning, shared ownership purchase models, tax breaks for EU nationals arriving for construction work, reduced CGT for empty sites, tax reduction for citizens downsizing, and help-to-buy schemes.

First time home buyers are having trouble purchasing homes due to the increasing purchase prices. It is universally agreed upon that more properties need to be available. According to an independent article, 2500 houses that were built in the first three months have not been sold yet. In addition, this is driving up decisions. That coupled with difficult mortgage banking is challenging middle- and lower-class citizens to find accommodation. These statements emphasize the lack of availability and ease for purchasing affordable housing.

Build-to-rent schemes have the …

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Why the American Housing Market is Crashing

With housing being the most affordable it has been since the mid-1970’s, why are Americans choosing to rent instead of buy?

Many good things are to come by investing property, one of the best ones being the extremely high returns that can be received.

With mortgage rates at an all-time low, many areas with generally inexpensive rental properties are still proving to be more costly to live in, relative to the alternative of buying into the housing market.

The National Association of Realtors is even expecting rent costs to increase up to 5% over the upcoming years, giving any person a difficult purpose to justify renting over buying.

Caitlin McCabe suggests that part of the hardship is a “housing hangover” that was caused by the market crash of ’08. Many American homeowners are still experiencing a considerable loss while they have more to pay on their mortgages then what their home is even worth.

McCabe also did a study in which she found that less than one-third of those that lost their homes due to foreclosure plan to return to …

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