In March, Free and Clear released our first analysis of how much home you could buy based on the median rent in the 20 most expensive U.S. cities. The analysis sparked a lot of interest and touched upon important issues such as sky rocketing rents and housing affordability. Due to positive feedback and constructive input, we have updated the analysis to reflect current interest rates and rents and expanded the analysis from 20 cities to 40 to cover more of the country. Our objective for the analysis is to promote borrower awareness and education while at the same time shining a spotlight on just how expensive it is to rent or buy a home in major cities across the country.

The movie The Big Short — up for five Academy Award nominations on Sunday, including Best Picture — has thrust the mortgage and real estate markets into the spotlight again. It does an excellent job of explaining very complicated financial issues while also powerfully conveying the emotionally devastating effects of the collapse of the real estate market and economy in 2008.