Trulia's Rent vs. Buy Index: Rent in Omaha, Buy in Minneapolis

Always a popular comparison in real estate: Is it better to rent or buy?

Now, real estate website Trulia.com has launched a Rent vs. Buy Index, featuring the top 10 cities in each category. Some of the results were quite surprising.

Namely, that Omaha, home to famously frugal financier Warren Buffett, pictured left, comes in at no. 2 -- right after no. 1, New York City -- as a city where it's cheaper to rent than buy. Also on the list: Oklahoma City at no. 6 and Kansas City at no. 7. The results apparently also came as a surprise to Trulia's number crunchers.

Ken Shuman, spokesman at Trulia.com, told HousingWatch, "In Omaha, prices have always been steady and on the rise," but also managed to avoid the crash. Shuman points out that the "Buffett effect" makes for a fairly resilient economy there. Plus, Omaha and Kansas City never saw the glut of supply that flooded condo markets in Florida and Arizona.

On the flip side, the "cheaper to buy" list also yielded a few surprises, with Minneapolis and Arlington, Texas making it to the no.1 and no. 2 spots respectively.