According to the New York Times' Economix blog , Seattle has one of the highest "rent ratios" in the country, an indicator of whether it makes more sense to rent or own. Rent ratios are determined by dividing the price of a typical home by the price of renting that home; the higher the ration, the better a deal it is to rent instead of buying.

A good rule of thumb is that you should often buy when the ratio is below 15 and rent when the ratio is above 20. If it’s between 15 and 20, lean toward renting — unless you find a home you really like and expect to stay there for many years.

Seattle's ratio is 27.3---the fifth-highest in the country (after three cities in California and Honolulu). Translation: Right now, renting is a much better deal than buying.

However, the data the Times was using were from the second quarter of this year. According to the Seattle Times, housing sales prices dropped 7.2 percent in October compared to a year earlier---one of the largest declines in the nation.