Current:Home > MarketsHunting for your first home? Here are the best U.S. cities for first-time buyers.-VaTradeCoin
Hunting for your first home? Here are the best U.S. cities for first-time buyers.
View Date:2025-01-09 10:51:44
The city best known for blues music and the Gateway Arch is also a prime destination for people looking to buy their first home.
St. Louis, Missouri, offers the best mix of reasonably priced housing stock and the number of properties for sale, with more than two-thirds of available homes in the city defined as affordable, according to a new report from Zillow.
The median sales price for homes in St. Louis is $205,500, Redfin data shows — well below the national median of $384,500. St. Louis is also among a handful of cities where home prices are expected to fall this year, according to a Realtor.com forecast.
Zillow defines affordable as homeowners spending no more than 30% of their income on payments, factoring in a 5% down payment, and a mortgage of 6.94%.
To be sure, for many Americans buying a home remains a major financial challenge. To comfortably afford a typical home, Americans today must have household income of $106,500 — up sharply from $59,000 just four years ago, according to previous Zillow research.
The interest rate on a conventional 30-year mortgage hit 6.82% this week, according to Freddie Mac, and experts predict rates will stay in a range of 6.75% to 7% during spring homebuying season.
"The good news for homebuyers is that inventory is increasing in some markets," Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at Bright MLS told CBS MoneyWatch."Buyers have been holding back over the past few weeks, but more supply this spring will bring more buyers back into the market."
And notably, despite the hurdles to buying a home, many people are finding ways to do it. Homeownership rates in the nation's 50 largest metro areas rose from 60.6% in 2012 to 61.7% in 2022 — an increase of 6.1 million new homeowners, according to a LendingTree analysis.
Affordability is key criterion Zillow used to compose its list, but researchers also factored in how many households in certain markets are headed by someone between 29- and 43-years-old — the typical age range for first-time homebuyers.
Zillow also factored in how hard it is to find a place to rent — a competitive rental market makes it more difficult to save money to buy home — which is why pricier cities like Austin, Texas, and San Antonio, Texas, still made the list.
Rounding out Zillow's ranking of the 10 best cities for first-time homebuyers:
2. Detroit (63% of homes for sale are affordable)
3. Minneapolis (48%)
4. Indianapolis (50%)
5. Austin, Texas (23%)
6. Pittsburgh (63%)
7. San Antonio (33%)
8. Birmingham, Alabama (47.5%)
9. Kansas City (50.5%)
10. Baltimore (56%)
Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch. He previously worked as a reporter for the Omaha World-Herald, Newsday and the Florida Times-Union. His reporting primarily focuses on the U.S. housing market, the business of sports and bankruptcy.
TwitterveryGood! (219)
Related
- CRYPTIFII Introduce
- Father of teenage suspect in North Carolina mass shooting pleads guilty to gun storage crime
- Wisconsin man charged in 1985 killing of college student whose body was decapitated
- Jury awards $2.78 million to nanny over hidden camera in bedroom
- Appeals Court Affirms Conviction of Everglades Scientist Accused of Stealing ‘Trade Secrets’
- DWTS' Daniella Karagach Gives Unfiltered Reaction to Husband Pasha Pashkov's Elimination
- 1969 Dodge Daytona Hemi V8 breaks auction record with $3.3 million bid
- Sister Wives' Janelle Brown Details Bittersweet Memories of Late Son Garrison Brown
- Why Cynthia Erivo Needed Prosthetic Ears for Wicked
- NFL rookie rankings: Jayden Daniels or Malik Nabers for No. 1 of early 2024 breakdown?
Ranking
- These Michael Kors’ Designer Handbags Are All Under $150 With an Extra 22% off for Singles’ Day
- Steelworkers lose arbitration case against US Steel in their bid to derail sale to Nippon
- Utah State joining Pac-12, which has now snapped up five Mountain West schools
- Helene reaches hurricane status ahead of landfall in Florida: Live updates
- Arkansas governor unveils $102 million plan to update state employee pay plan
- Abbott Elementary’s Season 4 Trailer Proves Laughter—and Ringworm—Is Contagious
- Amy Poehler reacts to 'Inside Out 2' being Beyoncé's top movie in 2024
- Southwest plans to cut flights in Atlanta while adding them elsewhere. Its unions are unhappy
Recommendation
-
Melissa Gilbert recalls 'painful' final moment with 'Little House' co-star Michael Landon
-
Where is 'College GameDay' for Week 5? Location, what to know for ESPN show
-
In dueling speeches, Harris is to make her capitalist pitch while Trump pushes deeper into populism
-
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story Stars React to Erik Menendez’s Criticism
-
Indiana man is found guilty of murder in the 2017 killings of 2 teenage girls
-
Another Outer Banks home collapses into North Carolina ocean, the 3rd to fall since Friday
-
Tommy Lee's Wife Brittany Furlan Rescues Their Dog After Coyote Snatches Them in Attack
-
‘System of privilege’: How well-connected students get Mississippi State’s best dorms