自2022年富裕国家利率飙升以来，租房相对买房变得更划算；Zillow称，按20%首付并计入税、保险和适度维护费，2015—2021年买房月成本低于租房，但如今新买家每月约多付400美元，在一些最大城市差距达每月数千美元。
这并非仅限美国：CBRE表示，澳大利亚没有任何区域买公寓比租更便宜；Rathbones估算英国租金收益率约5%，仅略高于五年期固定按揭利率4.4%，而房东还要承担高维护与税费，意味着租客拿到更好的交易。即使在1984—2013年房价总体上涨且按揭利率大幅下行期间，阿瑟·考克斯在研究的6个美国都会区中也发现有3个都会区里，“租房并把少付的按揭相关资金投资于股票和公司债”更赚钱。
香港是一个反例：租金收益率从4年前低于2.5%升至如今3.5%，主要因房价自2021年以来按实际计算下跌三分之一；但其多为浮动利率按揭，而其他富裕地区更依赖长期利率。尽管近期降息，5年期与10年期国债收益率大多仍在3年前水平附近，美国30年期按揭利率仍高于6%（超过疫情期低点的两倍），再叠加更偏向租客的监管，除非房价大幅下跌、长期利率突然下行或租金长期飙升，租房更可能继续胜出。
Since rich-world interest rates surged in 2022, renting has become a better deal than buying; Zillow says that with a 20% downpayment and taxes, insurance, and modest maintenance included, buying cost less per month than renting in 2015–2021, but today a new buyer pays about $400 more, and in some largest cities the gap is thousands of dollars a month.
This is not just American: CBRE reports no Australian precinct where buying a flat is cheaper than renting, and Rathbones puts UK rental yields at about 5%, only slightly above 4.4% on five-year fixed mortgages, before landlords’ steep maintenance and tax costs—signaling a strong deal for tenants. Even in 1984–2013, when prices rose overall and mortgage rates fell sharply, Arthur Cox finds that in 3 of 6 US metro areas, renting and investing the would-be mortgage premium in stocks and corporate bonds was more profitable.
Hong Kong is a partial exception, with yields rising from under 2.5% four years ago to 3.5% today as real house prices have fallen by a third since 2021, but its mostly floating-rate mortgages differ from the longer-term-rate linkage elsewhere. With five- and ten-year bond yields mostly where they were three years ago and US 30-year mortgage rates still above 6% (more than twice pandemic lows), plus more renter-friendly regulation, renting is likely to stay ahead unless prices fall much further, long-term rates drop suddenly, or rents surge for long.
Source: Is it better to rent or buy?
Subtitle: Much depends on long-term interest rates
Dateline: 1月 08, 2026 10:46 上午