Buying home beats renting in bay area, study shows

A new study that compares renting to owning says it makes financial sense to buy a lower-cost three-bedroom house in the Tampa Bay area.

The study of the nation's 100 most populous cities grouped Tampa among 66 metro areas where buying will make you wealthier than renting through 2012.

The other 34 metro areas, including Miami-Fort Lauderdale and Cape Coral-Fort Myers, were ranked as places where renting was the best option through 2012.

The study was done by the National Low Income Housing Coalition and the Center for Economic and Policy Research. According to the data, a person who bought a lower-cost home in Tampa this year could expect to compile between $38,000 and $42,000 equity in his home within four years.

Study author Danilo Pelletiere stressed that home ownership should be considered a conservative investment, not a get-rich-quick scheme.