Grays Harbor among most favorable counties to buy a home

In a recent study from SmartAsset, it listed Grays Harbor in the Top 10 Washington counties that are more favorable to buy a home.

The  study from SmartAsset compares rent and home prices in counties across the U.S. and by state.

According to the financial technology company, each location in the study was ranked based on their breakeven year: the point at which the cost of buying a home becomes more favorable than renting. 

The places where buying becomes favorable in the shortest amount of time rank the highest.

For the “rent” scenario, the company measured the median monthly rent for a three bedroom home in each county. 

For the “buy” scenario, they used the following parameters: an annual 30 year fixed mortgage with an annual interest rate of 4.5%, closing costs of $2,000 and a down payment of 20%.

Grays Harbor ranked 9th on the list, based on an average monthly mortgage around $1,200 and an average monthly rent listed at around $1,320.

This creates a breakeven year of 4.5.

These figures are compared to an average home price listed around $285,000.

The study does not separate the county by city, averaging it as a whole.

 

Rank	County	Avg. Monthly Mortgage Payment	Avg. Monthly Rent	Avg. Home Price	Breakeven Year	Rent vs. Buy Index
1	Whitman, WA	$1,554	$1,373	$368,374	3.0	89.25
2	Grant, WA	$1,170	$1,245	$277,295	3.2	88.47
3	Stevens, WA	$1,291	$1,102	$306,202	3.4	87.22
4	Klickitat, WA	$1,755	$1,441	$416,073	3.5	86.68
5	Asotin, WA	$1,248	$1,235	$295,814	3.6	85.85
6	Okanogan, WA	$1,303	$1,213	$309,039	3.8	84.90
7	Adams, WA	$982	$1,121	$232,788	3.9	84.18
8	Kittitas, WA	$1,889	$1,541	$447,965	4.1	83.47
9	Grays Harbor, WA	$1,206	$1,320	$285,887	4.5	80.99
10	Franklin, WA	$1,378	$1,549	$326,663	4.5	80.87

Additional details on the study, including the methodology and interactive map, can be found here: http://smartasset.com/mortgage/rent-vs-buy#Washington