"Own" vs. Rent Disparity

This web site asks the question "How much more does it cost to own than to rent?" Maybe you will find it interesting. San Francisco is fourth from the top where the disparity is $1,308/month higher to own than to rent the same property. I think this is important to know as monthly rental rates are an indication of what people can actually afford each month as they cannot offload the present expense to the future like they can with a mortgage.

Some choice quotes:

A house price "bubble" is said to exist where the cost of buying a home is unduly high compared to the cost of renting the same property. A new reference book, The Data Almanac 2006, has published a list of cities with the largest disparities between owning and renting. It is based on the American Housing Survey - a database compiled by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development that includes 71 thousand households. The top nine cities in the list are all in California or the New York City commuter area (see below).

(Click on the chart for a larger view.)