Joint study between FAU and FIU shows rise in property prices
Real estate costs are higher than pre-recession levels.
Photo courtesy of FAU.
December 14, 2016
If you are looking to buy or rent a house in the near future, you should expect higher than usual price tags, according to the latest national index produced by Florida Atlantic and Florida International University business faculty.
The study is designed to signal whether or not market conditions favor buying or renting real estate. The index summarizes 23 major city housing markets along with the the U.S. real estate market as a whole to provide the most accurate analysis of housing costs.
FIU College of Business assistant professor Eli Beracha, FIU business professor William Hardin III and associate dean and professor in FAU’s Finance Department Ken Johnson conducted the study.
According to an FAU press release on the index, faculty members from both schools found that home prices are at an all-time high and surpass the price highs from before the financial crisis in 2008.
“Record high home prices in the U.S. housing market are being driven upward by rising rents in cities across the country,” the release stated.
For college students, this means higher rental costs, which place pressure on the housing market that caters to students.
“One of the toughest questions Americans have to face is whether they should rent or if they should buy,” said Johnson. “But really the question should be are you going to create more wealth through renting and reinvesting or buying and building equity?”
Johnson said helping students figure out whether or not they should buy or rent property is one of the reasons why the index was created.
Real estate price website Trulia states that market trends in the city of Boca Raton show a 13 percent increase in median home sale prices over the past year. The average rental cost went up to $2,537 in December from $2,300 at the start of the year in January.
The index is reproduced two months at the end of every financial quarter.
Benjamin Paley is a contributing writer with the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @benpaley92.
Pamela • Dec 15, 2016 at 11:40 am
Two colleges funded a project to figure out whether it’s more lucrative to rent out buy. If most American families weren’t dirt poor; I’d agree with the latter.
Neither if you aren’t suckling off your rich mommy and daddy. As for the rest of the country, should most of its citizens be faced with a scenario where they can actually save any money for a purchase down payment while also paying exorbitant rent “set by the market.” (Meaning whomever’s rich mommy or daddy partnered with big banks theb bought up all the land and buildings first, so they could set up easy ROI and fuck over most Americans for personal gain).
Closing statement, for anyone living on what America pays most people without a trust fund, the only way to make money in the housing market is to live in your car and shower at Planet Fitness.