Special report | Better off renting?
Owner-occupation is not always a better deal than renting
Each year American owner-occupiers pay around $200bn in maintenance costs on their homes
THE QUESTION hardly seems worth asking. Is it a better deal to rent a house or to buy one? Buying a house is a wise investment for the future, the argument goes, whereas renting one amounts to little more than throwing money down the drain. A closer look at the economics, however, shows that this view may be mistaken.
This article appeared in the Special report section of the print edition under the headline “Money down the drain, right?”
From the January 18th 2020 edition
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