It's very interesting to see how different financial factors can change the rent vs. buy decision. Here's the full report in case anyone's interested: http://trends.truliablog.com/2012/09/rent-vs-buy-summer-2012...

--Daisy (PR Manager at Trulia)

The big take away I got from this is that if you can qualify for a good mortgage and are actually going to stay for 5+ years it is almost universally cheaper to buy then rent. Even in the high priced towns like NYC, San Fran, and Boston.

Daisy, does this take into account costs such as maintenance, home repairs, etc or is it strictly financial in terms of rent payment v. mortgage payment?

It says so in the footer on that page.

What about future rent increases?

Why 5% state income tax instead of actual, as it varies widely across states.

Condos or houses? These two markets have different characteristics and can't be averaged together.

Margin of error? Comparing means in isolation is uninformative.