When is it the right time to switch from rent to owning? Usually this answer is subjective, depending on things like income, family size and location. However, in real estate it can often be a matter of time. Recent reports are showing that while nationally, people are recouping their investments on homes faster, in major metro areas the opposite appears to be true.

The national breakeven horizon — the amount of time needed to own the home before owning makes more sense than renting — recently dropped to 1.8 years in Q2 2017, according to a new Zillow report. This means that nationally, homeowners only need to own a home for about 2 years before it is more fiscally smart compared to renting the same home. However, most of the U.S.’s major metro areas have actually seen an increase in the breakeven horizon.

Houston’s median breakeven horizon is about 1.7 years. This is actually lower than the national average, but it was an increase of almost four months for Houston. Also, Houston has an expected home value appreciation after the first year of ownership is 4.05 percent. Meaning that for every dollar spent on a Houston home, the owners will gain back a little more than 4 percent of their investment back within the first year.

Q2 2017 also reported an increasing gap in the price-to-rent ratio, one of the most common ways to calculate if it is a good choice to rent or buy.

In Houston the median home value is $189,729 and its median monthly rent is $1,600. To calculate Houston’s price-to-rent, Zillow divided the median home value by a year’s worth of the median rent ($19,200). This makes its price-to-rent ratio 9.7, which is significantly less than the highest U.S. ratio (San Jose, California with a ratio of 23).