A slowdown in the upward climb of home prices allowed the housing market as a whole to move more toward buying a home than renting one during the second quarter, according to a quarterly report from professors at Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University.
The Beracha, Hardin & Johnson Buy vs. Rent Index for the country came in at negative 0.17 on a scale of positive 1 to negative 1 where negative values indicate a preference toward homeownership, according to the report. That compares to values of
"Housing prices, in general, continue to slow and when considered in light of the recent trends in the Buy vs. Rent Index signal that ownership remains an excellent investment for the majority of Americans," said Ken Johnson, one of the index's authors and an associate dean of graduate programs and professor in FAU's College of Business, in a news release Tuesday.
Of the 23 markets the index's authors studied, 15 trended toward ownership since the first quarter.
