A pair of reports looks at the rent or buy question. "John, a chiropractor in Los Altos, California, has just committed the financial equivalent of heresy. To the surprise of many of his friends, he has defied the cult of home ownership, selling his historic five-bedroom house in favour of renting."

"'I don't feel that house prices can support more appreciation and will probably drop back for the next few years, so it seemed the right time to cash out,' he says. 'We pay about 40 per cent less in rent than our mortgage and don't have to spend a cent on repairs.'"

"An exhaustive survey of the US housing market by HSBC has highlighted the appeal of renting in many parts of the US. 'It's fairly common to say that renting is like throwing money down the drain, but people forget that there is a lot of that in owning too,' says Ian Morris, an economist at HSBC. 'There is not a lot of difference between paying rent to a landlord or interest to a bank.'"

"Even taking account of the generous tax subsidy, new homeowners are paying an increasingly hefty premium over renters. The annual cost of home ownership in Los Angeles, for example, is now more than double the cost of renting. LA homeowners have long been paying more than renters, says Mr Morris, but the premium for owning is now 40 per cent more than its average over the past three decades. The figures for many of the other leading US property markets are no less alarming."

From Newsday. "Ray Smith knew the heyday of real estate had to end sometime. So last fall he and his wife, Michele, sold the five-bedroom Port Jefferson home they bought in 1988, getting $856,000, or more than 2 1/2 times what they paid for it. Instead of using their profits to buy another home, they chose to rent a house in Stony Brook. A bit like a short-seller in the stock market, Smith is betting the housing market will falter."

"'"I think I sold at the peak,' said Smith. 'The more I looked at the numbers, I said, 'This can't go on forever.' It was not an easy decision to make, especially because Long Island lacks a significant supply of rental property. Nearly six months later, however, they're pleased with the decision. 'Now all of a sudden, we have money for things like furniture instead of constantly living with credit cards and debt,' said Smith, who has paid off what the family owed and invested some of the money in a mix of stocks and bonds."

"Some homeowners, however, aren't worried about buying again in the future. They're getting out of ownership altogether. Take Beverly Slott, who now lives in a rented apartment in Rockville Centre, sold her home in Oceanside last July, a home she bought 47 years ago for $16,000. Although Slott wasn't thinking about the housing market realities, her son, Rockville Centre certified public accountant Ed Slott, was. And he backed his mother's decision the whole way."

"'What are you going to do, buy another place that's highly overpriced?,' Ed Slott said. 'It seemed better to invest the money and rent.'"