Typically buying a house or a condo has been one of the best ways to build personal wealth, but sky-high real estate prices in Seattle has taken that rule and thrown it out the window.
What used to be the price for a fancy house is now just a fraction of what sellers are asking.
”I always imagined, ‘I can’t wait to own a $300,000, $400,000 house,'” said Tyler Martinez, a Seattle resident. “Good luck finding that. Yeah right.”
SmartAsset, a personal finance company, looked at data from the 50 largest real estate markets in the United States and came up with it calls a “price-to-rent” ratio.
Seattle ranked fourth in the country.
“Seattle’s price-to-rent ratio has consistently indicated that renting is more favorable than buying,” SmartAsset’s Mark locastro said.
Renters say there is a simple reason.
Colleen Burbank, who lives in Seattle, said the prices and wages don’t line up.
SmartAsset says the median home price in Seattle was $758,000 in 2020. Two years later, that number stands at $781,000.
But just because the math is better for renters doesn’t mean Seattle is a great city in which to rent.
“The median home value and the median annual rent prices have increased across the board, from 2020 to 2022,” locastro said.
Realtor.com just released new numbers that say the U.S. median rental price just hit its 14th straight month of record highs.
So unless you have massive income, renting is hard, and buying can be nearly impossible.
”I’m fortunate because I’m in tech, but for the majority of people that aren’t making that much money, it’s really got to be a struggle,” Martinez said.
