Renting cheaper in all but one Tri-Cities area county

February’s Rent vs. Buy Report comes down on the rent side in Tri-Cities area counties with one exception.

Hawkins County was neutral for the month, down from a 1% cheaper to rent position in January.

The report calculates median buying costs based on Realtor.com county-level residential price data and median rental prices sourced from the U.S. Department of Housing and Development data for rental estimates in the 50^th percentiles. Household income data is from Nielsen Pop Facts Demographics 019.

According to the report, it was cheaper to rent in 10 of the 11-county Tri-Cities region. The strongest rent position was in Johnson County where it was 15 cheaper to rent than buying. The weakest rental position was in Sullivan County where it was 3% cheaper to rent than buying. February’s rent position was 4% in January.

Washington County has also listed in Tennessee Top 10 Cheaper to Rent County. Buying costs for Washington were 27% of median income while the rental price was 19%.

The report compares the median monthly costs of renting and buying relative to median income in 3,143 US counties. By February 2019, renting costs have gone up in 66% of the counties, and buying is cheaper in 40% of counties nationwide.