What $400K Buys in Sought After Investment Housing Markets

Are you considering investing in real estate before year’s end to take advantage of historically low interest rates? Or perhaps you’re interested in diversifying into real estate as part of your existing investment portfolio? To help decide whether real estate investing is the right decision for you, HomeUnion® has compared investment property values in 10 of the most sought-after real estate markets nationwide. Specifically, we analyzed what a $400,000 investment leveraged at 25 percent will buy a single-family rental (SFR) investor in Jacksonville, Dallas, Atlanta, Charlotte and Austin; versus what an investor can acquire for the same price in the non-HomeUnion markets of Denver, Washington, D.C., Seattle, New York and Oakland.

Metros in which HomeUnion® operates are more affordable, offer renters and investors significantly more square footage, and provide investors with the ability to earn higher monthly rental returns. In fact, investors with a $100,000 down payment in HomeUnion® markets could buy a two-property SFR portfolio totaling 4,400 square feet, and collect average monthly rents of $3,030. On the other hand, investors in some of the largest metro areas nationwide can acquire significantly less real estate. In Denver, Washington, D.C., Seattle, New York and Oakland, investors can only purchase one property measuring 600 square feet on average, and can collect $1,980 per month in rent.

Here’s an analysis of what investors can acquire using leverage in five of HomeUnion®’s markets for $400,000 versus five non-HomeUnion markets, where the main investment options are condominiums: