In this country, the housing market continues to be hot, both the house-buying and rental markets. In a recent report by the housing site Trulia, current trends continue to support the advantages of homeownership over renting, even as housing prices are rising.
These trends have important implications for retirement planning. One clear and important trend of high and rising rental rates suggest that it continues to be more economical to own rather than rent. So, even if you want to get out of the business of homeownership when retiring, the desire to give up entirely on homeownership is probably going to cost you.
Another important trend is that lower interest rates are benefitting homebuyers less in the face of rising housing costs. However, it is still much cheaper to buy than rent in the 100 largest American metro areas, ranging from as high as 50 percent to 20 percent cheaper, depending on the metro area. On average, it is 37.7 percent cheaper to buy than rent, which is roughly what the rate was last year.
The Trulia report makes the point that rising prices should concern homebuyers more than rising interest rates, since to erase the advantages of buying, rates would have to be more than double. Nationally, even though home prices have increased more sharply than rents, the financial advantages of homebuying continue to be significant. While a continued rise in housing prices could in some places begin to erode the advantages of buying over renting, that is more likely to happen in already expensive markets.
For homeowners planning their retirement, these developments may not have significant implications. However, for homeowners looking to sell their homes as part of their strategy for financing their retirement, they may want to pay more active attention to rising rates. As rates rise, home prices may fall, and that outcome may have an impact on their financial planning.
An important advantage of owning a home in a retirement community is that vital homeownership equity, while avoiding many of the ongoing management and maintenance challenges of owning your own home. Delaware is home to some of this country's top retirement communities , and offers great financial advantages to retirees, making it one of the best places to retire in our country.
Also keep in mind McKee Builders' SmartBuyer program, which assists retirees in both selling their current homes while managing the purchase of their new homes, so this transition is as easy and quick as possible.