More and more wealthy Americans these days are choosing to rent than buy, CNBC reports.

They don't have problems making monthly payments to live in fine homes, but rather, they don't want to own because they have little faith in the housing market.

“I wanted to protect ourselves from prices going down,” says Patrick Lee, a managing director at a major bank and recently sold his New York City home so he could rent.

“I didn’t want to be an owner anymore.”

Lee isn't alone.

“More affluent Americans are opting to rent as oppose to buy,” says Jack McCabe, an independent real estate analyst and CEO of McCabe Research.

“Within the last year, so many people have seen their family and friends get burned in real estate. They don’t see it as being a risk-free investment as they used to.”

In Manhattan, the demand for pricey rentals is hot and getting hotter, according to CNBC.

In the third quarter of this year, 200 new leases were signed for rentals charging at least $10,000 a month, more than double a year earlier, according to Jonathan Miller, CEO and president of New York City-based real-estate appraisal and consulting firm Miller Samuel.

Housing prices continue to slide nationwide thanks to a sluggish economy, high unemployment rates and tight credit.

Home prices will slide 8 percent in 2011, says Mark Zandi, chief economist with Moody's Analytics, CNN reports.

The good news is, Zandi says, is that "there'll be no vicious, self-reinforcing spiral down."