Renting remains cheaper than owning in NYC suburbs, too

Like the city itself, New York City’s suburbs are bucking national pricing trends that have left buying more affordable than renting for most of the United States. The Wall Street Journal reported that in Long Island and Northern New Jersey the finances still favor renters, even as affordability tilts in the direction of homeowners thanks to the nationwide combination of rising rents and falling mortgage rates and home prices.

In Nassau County, asking prices remain about 24 percent higher than the typical household’s gross income and the median property tax is the second highest in the country. In Old Westbury, for example, a four-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom home is among the smallest on the rental market and asks $3,500 per month. Meanwhile, an $858,000 home with property taxes of about $13,800 is the cheapest on the market, but results in a monthly bill of about $4,350 if purchased with 10 percent down and a 3.7 percent interest rate.

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In Northern New Jersey, residents pay an extra $529 on mortgage payments on average than they do in rent, according to data from Marcus & Millichap. Several popular counties in the region, including Bergen and Essex, also charge among the highest property taxes in the nation, at a median of $8,200 compared to the U.S. median of $1,917. [WSJ]