March 11, 2009

Is renting better than buying?

A couple of years ago people who rented property were in fact simply throwing their money down the drain, whereas on the other hand those people with mortgages were in fact the shrewd investor who could only make money. How times have changed and yet is renting better than buying?

Some people believe so, at least for the mean time, the property market is so unstable, unpredictable and to be honest the information being delivered by the experts is not really holding up, as there are too many opinions and not enough facts.

These are reasons why renting is better:

Houses produce lousy returns, while stocks produce good ones
House prices have further to fall
Many houses for sale today seem designed to waste money
Big houses are targets for future taxes
Neighbourhoods are changing in unpredictable ways

Source [Yahoo]