Survey: Consumers Say Owning Is Easier Than Renting

A majority of homeowners recently surveyed say they believe owning a home isn’t as difficult as renting, according to a new survey from LendingTree, an online loan marketplace. Only 15% of homeowners believe renting is easier than owning a home, compared with 67% of more than 2,000 homeowners who said owning is easier, the survey found.

For the most part, the longer homeowners have been in their homes, the more likely they are to believe owning is easier, according to the study. For example, nearly 72% of homeowners who have spent seven to nine years in their home say owning is easier than renting.

© LendingTree

The longer a consumer owns a home, the less likely they’ll say they ever want to rent again, the survey found. Only 7% of respondents who have owned their home for at least a decade say they wish they could return to renting, compared to 19% who have owned for three years or less.

Homeowners seem happy and content, particularly in some states. Missouri has the largest percentage of homeowners—91%—who say they’ll stay in their state after 10 years. Tennessee and Georgia homeowners are also likely to say they don’t plan to move to another state in the next decade.

On the other hand, homeowners in the Northeast are the most likely to say they want to relocate to a different state. Homeowners in Maryland, Massachusetts, Illinois, New Jersey, and Connecticut may be among the most transient and open to moving to another state, the study found.

© LendingTree