Home ownership is an increasingly less-common condition, especially during a down housing market. Many people are just choosing to rent. They don’t want to risk losing equity in their home, and so they opt to not buy for now. In the meantime, they enjoy all of the amenities renting affords, such as not having to mow the grass and cheap renters insurance.

Still, there are some areas that it really makes sense to go from renting to buying. Forbes even published a list this week of 10 cities where it makes sense to go from renting to buying.

Take, for example, San Francisco. In San Francisco, it has traditionally been significantly higher to buy a home than to rent. In fact, around 42 percent of residents in San Francisco rent for this reason. It’s usually just short of 300 percent more expensive to buy than rent.

Today, however, things are changing. Home prices have dropped significantly, while rent has stayed the same or slightly increased. In the third quarter of 2009, for example, that 300 percent figure had dropped down to around 230 percent. While it’s still much more expensive to buy than rent there, the difference is falling.

In some areas, that gap between what it costs to rent and what it costs to buy a house has dropped even more, making buying a home nearly as cheap as renting. Take, for example, Portland, Oregon. In Portland, it usually costs around 60 percent more to buy than it does to rent. That number has dropped to about 40 percent.

When you couple that closing gap along with projected housing value increases, buying a house can make good sense. Houses in Portland are expected to gain about 19 percent in value over the next five years, meaning that right now is the time to go from renting to buying if you live in Portland.

Another factor to consider, of course, is your employment situation. If you’re working in a job that’s likely to be around in a few years, it can make sense to buy. If you’re on a 90-day contract, you might want to keep renting for a while. If your next contract takes you halfway across the country, this isn’t the time that you want to be trying to sell a house.

Photo via purplbutrfly