Renters considering a home purchase may be dismayed to learn that nationally, typical monthly mortgage payments are 82% more expensive than two-bedroom rental costs, according to a report by Zonda.

The housing market research company noted that several cities exceed 140% premiums for mortgage payment costs versus two-bedroom rental prices, including Las Vegas, Phoenix and Boise, Idaho. However, in Chicago and Miami, monthly mortgage payments are less than 50% higher than rental costs, which the company attributes to “higher two-bedroom rents in the core submarkets pulling up the average rent and reducing the premium.”

Prospective homebuyers are unlikely to find relief in the short term, with Zonda noting that mortgage rates are “expected to remain elevated for an extended period of time.”

And home prices continue to climb, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

In the first quarter, year-over-year sales prices for existing single-family homes rose in 83% of the top 228 U.S. metropolitan areas, according to NAR. The association reported that the national median single-family existing-home price increased 3.4% from a year ago to $402,300. Additionally, NAR found that the typical monthly mortgage payment on an existing single-family home with a 20% downpayment was $2,120, which is up 4.1% from the first quarter of 2024.

Regionally, the Northeast had the largest year-over-year price appreciation in existing home sales at 10.3%, per the NAR report. The Midwest had 5.2% price gains over the prior year, while the West increased 4.1% and the South registered 1.3% gains.

“Most metro markets continue to set new record highs for home prices,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun in a press release. “In the first quarter, the Northeast performed best in both sales and price gains by percentage. Despite the stronger job additions, the South lagged with declining sales and virtually no price appreciation.”