LUCAS, WOOD, ALLEN COUNTIES

3-bedroom houses cheaper to purchase

Properties more expensive to rent

7/9/2015

It remains cheaper to buy a three-bedroom, single-family home in Lucas, Wood, and Allen counties in northwest Ohio than it is to rent such a home.

A resident in Lucas County making the median income of $46,592 would need only 18.1 percent of that income to buy the average priced house of $86,290, according to a new analysis by real estate data firm CoreLogic Inc.

But that same resident would need 28.9 percent of his income to rent a comparable three-bedroom house in Lucas County, the analysis said. The monthly home payment would be $613, while the monthly rental payment would be $980, CoreLogic said.

In Wood County, someone making the median income of $42,796 would need 22.5 percent of that income to purchase the average priced home of $139,089, but would need 23.5 percent of his income to rent a comparable three-bedroom house in the county, CoreLogic found. The monthly house payment would be $939, the monthly rental payment would be $980.

In Allen County, where Lima is, a resident making the median income of $41,652 would need 17.5 percent of that income to buy an average priced house of $91,301 but would need 23.6 percent of his income to rent a comparable three-bedroom house in the county, the analysis shows. The monthly house payment would be $613, while the monthly rental payment would be $829.

It has been cheaper to buy than rent in all three counties for the last three years, CoreLogic figures showed.

CoreLogic, which is based in Irvine, Calif., also said that Lucas County is the ninth best county in terms of buying property with the intent to turn it into a rental property. It ranked 51 counties out of 285 counties analyzed.

Lucas County offers an annual gross rental yield of 13.6 percent, up 0.7 percent from a year ago. Also, the average sales price of a home has dropped 5 percent from a year ago.

Overall, the average gross rental yield was 8.9 percent for the first five months of 2015 across the 285 counties that were analyzed. That was down from 9.1 percent a year ago, CoreLogic said. Its analysis used figures from the first five months of 2015 compared with the same period a year ago. The average rental rate rose 3 percent from a year ago, while the average home price rose 4 percent.

In terms of buying versus renting, CoreLogic said its analysis showed that buying a house was more affordable than renting in 188 of the 285 counties analyzed.

The average percentage of the median income needed to buy was 29 percent while the average percentage needed to rent was nearly 30 percent, CoreLogic said.