The Supreme Court on Tuesday turned down a major property-rights challenge to rent control laws in New York City and elsewhere that give tenants a right to stay for many years in an apartment with a below-market cost.
A group of New York landlords had sued, contending the combination of rent regulation and long-term occupancy violated the Constitution’s ban on the taking of private property for public use.
The justices had considered the appeal since late September. Only Justice Clarence Thomas issued a partial dissent.
For whom is renting the best option?
Anyone who isn’t going to live there for very long - there are a lot of costs to selling a house, while renters can just move out at the end of their lease. Some of this is risk management - house values sometimes go down, eventually they tend to go up (hopefully tracking inflation long term - often more but I agree with those who say this is not sustainable). The real gains of owning a house don’t come until you have been there for a few years: your payment stays the same while inflation means you get more income (eventually many pay it off) ; and you can reconfigure it to fit your personal needs. A good rule of thumb is if you won’t live there for 7 years you should rent.
If you are good with tools you can save a lot of money doing your own labor - fixing your house can be a good hobby for some. However if that doesn’t describe you then renters mean someone else deals with all the contractors to repair things which can be nice.
In the end everyone has a different situation so there is no common rule. You need to figure out what is right for your situation (some of which is only a guess!) and trust that others figured right for theirs despite coming up with different answers.