A new report released by HotPads.com, a national housing search engine, shows that rental listing prices across the US climbed 7.4 percent while for sale listing prices retreated 8.8 percent since this time last year (April 2010 - April 2011). First-quarter data shows a reversal of the broader trend -- rental prices fell 1.8 percent and sale price rose 3.5 percent -- but the report emphasized that the first-quarter trend is likely attributed to seasonal patterns in the housing market.
Further, HotPads' most recent Rent vs Buy Ratio analysis, an indicator of home price stability calculated by dividing an area's median house price by annual rent, shows that several states may be entering a 'buyers' market. The 10 states with the lowest Rent-Buy ratios, represented in the accompanying map, appear to have the most favorable conditions for buying instead of renting.
