CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The personal finance website Go Banking Rates recently crunched the numbers and determined that Corpus Christi is one of just 31 cities nationally in which it costs less to own a home rather than rent.
The study says that renters pay around $95 more per month than homeowners in Corpus Christi.
"That might not sound like much, but when you multiply that to get it annually, it's $1,140," Go Banking Rates Lead Researcher And Analyst Andrew DePietro said. "Over the course of 30 years, like a 30-year mortgage, that comes out to $34,200."
The website used Zillow's April 2019 data to calculate average monthly mortgage payments and average monthly rent payments. Monthly rent averaged $1,372 while average mortgage payments were $1,277. A local realtor has an explanation for the rent rates.
Rental rates in Corpus Christi tend to be higher, because it's supply and demand," Safe Harbor Real Estate broker and owner Cheryl Bailey said. "As our demand grows, and as all the economics for Corpus Christi continue to grow, there is a housing shortage especially in certain price ranges."
Bailey supports the study's findings, pointing out that home ownership creates equity that can be beneficial financially. But a local apartment complex property manager says the study leaves out some of financial negatives of home ownership like maintenance and repairs which are typically free for renters.
"Many people want to buy a home and create equity in their home," property manager for NOIPM property management Mary Stegall said. "In the long run that may seem like a great idea, but a lot of times when people have a mortgage, they don't think about the extra things that come with it."
Despite that, Go Banking Rates stands behind the study.
"Rent, at the end of the day, it's money that goes nowhere," DePietro said. "You're not getting any equity. The fact that in Corpus Christi the mortgage is, one, cheaper than the rent, and you get equity on top of it, that makes it almost like a no-brainer."
Click here to see the slideshow showing the cities in which rent is more expensive than owning a home.
