For Aaron Carter, a 20-year-old musician who was struggling to fit a drum set, a piano and three guitars into his 600-square-foot apartment in Phoenix, the math on owning a home finally began to work in his favor.

Rent for the apartment he shared with his wife: $615. Mortgage payment for a home with twice the space: $760. And the interest on a mortgage is tax-deductible. So they jumped at the chance to buy some elbow room.

We figured that everything together, getting more space, getting out of the apartment life and also just the prices right now, it just was the perfect time for us as a couple to buy, Carter said.

For Americans debating whether to buy or rent their homes, the scales are tipping toward ownership in many cities. Because of the slide in home prices, low interest rates and tax incentives, renters are realizing they could handle a mortgage for a little more money.

An Associated Press analysis of 45 metro areas found that the gap between the monthly mortgage payment on a median-priced home and the median rent has shrunk from $777 a month to just $221 in the past three years. Substantial regional variations exist, however.

In some metro areas, including Cleveland, Atlanta, Indianapolis and St. Louis, the gap was less than $100 a month. And home prices are expected to fall faster than rents this year, which means the gap should get even smaller.

In once-inflated markets like Phoenix, Las Vegas and inland swaths of California and Florida, where prices have tumbled more than 40 percent, sales are rising because first-time homebuyers are snapping up bargain-priced homes.

They are getting help from a federal tax credit that covers 10 percent of the home price or up to $8,000 for first-time buyers up to certain income limits. The credit expires Dec. 1.