The choice between renting an apartment or a house is complicated. In this moment, I would argue it is best to just rent an apartment.

Right now, the housing market is somewhat in chaos. As a result of various factors like inflation and an uncertain economic outlook, rent prices for houses fall between reasonable to downright absurd.

That’s not to say apartment prices are entirely immune from this craziness in the market, either. But the prices, one could argue, are at least more tolerable when taking the average student finances into account.

Housing prices range with differences of thousands of dollars, whereas apartment prices differ by hundreds of dollars. Still a big difference, but at least less painful on someone’s wallet.

There are other aspects that make renting an apartment preferable compared to renting a house as a college student.

One of the more convenient parts of living in an apartment is that there is less maintenance to do. Because we live busy lives as college students and aren’t home often, keeping the place nice and tidy can be more challenging than one would think at face value.

A house takes more effort to maintain and keep clean. Especially the exterior, as renting a house could potentially require you to mow your lawn and keep it relatively clean compared to an apartment which doesn’t have a lawn for you to maintain.

Overall, renting a house and an apartment both have their benefits. But the apartment is better because its simple convenience, and that’s what we really all prefer in our lives.

Columns reflect the opinions of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Editorial Board, The Daily Iowan, or other organizations in which the author may be involved.

Houses provide various benefits that apartments do not.

Renting houses is more convenient for car owners. Those who rent apartments often must pay hundreds of dollars for a parking pass or battle for parking spots on the street. Those with houses have the benefit of driveways and garages.

In an apartment, having to muster up quarters every time you need to do laundry can be a huge inconvenience. Having free access to laundry machines is an overlooked yet major benefit of living in a house.

Additionally, houses offer more privacy. With a house, you don’t have to hear your upstairs neighbors blasting music at 2 a.m. — you don’t have to worry as much about bothering your neighbors, nor about them bothering you.

Privacy is an important benefit to living in a house. Millennials cited privacy as the biggest reason why they rented a house as opposed to an apartment, according to the Urban Land Institute. Houses are generally quieter than apartment buildings, which is a significant advantage if you want a place free of noise to study or relax.

Houses also offer more space, with bigger kitchens, bigger living rooms, and front and back yards to make the living experience notably better. Having more space means more space for movement, storage, and guests.

The pains of accessing an apartment are also notable. Having to carry heavy things up multiple flights of stairs or waiting for an elevator in a rush can be incredibly frustrating.

Apartments certainly have their own advantages, but houses outweigh them in convenience and value.

Columns reflect the opinions of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Editorial Board, The Daily Iowan, or other organizations in which the author may be involved.