A new report on rental affordability across the country during the first three months of this year shows Ascension Parish was among the most affordable in the nation, among 351 counties and parishes evaluated by real estate database RealtyTrac.
In Ascension, the average renter of a three-bedroom property spent about 17% of their household income on rent. The data show the nation’s most affordable area is Delaware County, Ohio, where the average rent accounted for just 14% of renters’ income on average.
On the other end of the spectrum, the nation’s least-affordable place to rent during the first quarter was Bronx County, New York, where the average renter spent 69% of their income on rent. No Louisiana parishes are on the listing of the most expensive places to rent, and Ascension is the lone parish on the most-affordable list.
The RealtyTrac analysis shows that the monthly house payment on a median-priced home is more affordable than the monthly fair market rent on a three-bedroom property in 76% of the U.S. parishes and counties.
“From a pure affordability standpoint, renters who have saved enough to make a 10% down payment are better off buying in the majority of markets across the country,” says RealtyTrac Vice President Daren Blomquist in a prepared statement. “But factors other than affordability are keeping many renters from becoming buyers, a reality that means real estate investors buying residential properties as rentals still have the opportunity to make strong returns in many markets.”
