2026-01-13
6 分钟The Economist.
Hello, Alice Fulwood here, co-host of Money Talks, our weekly podcast on markets, the economy and business.
Welcome to Editor's Picks.
You're about to hear an article from the latest edition of The Economist.
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"That our people should live in their own homes"
"is a sentiment deep in the heart of our race and of American life,"
said President Herbert Hoover, perhaps the most important advocate of mass homeownership in the country's history, in 1931.
"They never sing songs about a pile of rent receipts."
But a ballad about the rental market is overdue.
When rich-world interest rates began to surge in 2022, renting became a better deal than buying.
House prices have since stagnated or slumped in many places, and rates are falling.
Even so, there is reason to think that the winning streak for renters will continue.
According to Zillow, an American property website,
the monthly cost of buying and keeping a home—including taxes, insurance,
a modest maintenance cost and a downpayment of 20%—
came to less than that of renting from 2015 to 2021,
an era of ultra-low interest rates.
Since then, however, the picture has flipped.
Today a new buyer pays about $400 more a month.