If you are a first time homebuyer, you may want to consider moving to Texas.
Five Texas cities are among the 15 best places to buy your first home, according to final analysis By financial services company SmartAsset, which ranked 185 metropolitan areas based on affordability, growth potential, competition and demographics to determine the best possible home investment for young buyers.
Among those cities ranked, the military town of Killeen, Texas, came in first, as it is a growing city with home prices nearly half the national average.
The number of homes available in Killeen is higher than in most other cities, which favors buyers. It is a young city, with a higher than average percentage of residents under the age of 40.
Texas has long been an immigration hotspot in the United States. The population has grown by 43% between 2002 and 2022, According to US Census data. But despite this growth, house prices are slightly cheaper than the average in the United States, making for some of the most affordable homes in the country.
Here’s a look at the top 15 cities for first-time home buyers, along with the average home price in each city.
- Killeen, Texas: $252,833
- Wichita Falls, Texas: $186,650
- McAllen, Texas: $210,833
- Saint Joseph, Missouri: $156,500
- Cape Coral, Florida: $350,292
- Waco, Texas: $262,817
- Huntsville, Alabama: 294,550 dollars
- Brownsville, Texas: $236,500
- Green Bay, Wisconsin: $270,167
- Jackson, Tennessee: $196,667
- Appleton, Wisconsin: $267,250
- Jacksonville, North Carolina: $252,783
- Savannah, Georgia: $329,667
- Muncie, Indiana: $144,983
- Clarksville, Tennessee: $276,000
What makes these places great for first time buyers? For starters, the median home price in all of these cities is much cheaper than the median home price in the United States, which is $416,100. According to US Census data.
In addition, the median home price in most of the top 15 markets is about four times the median income of their residents. This represents a much lower financial burden compared to expensive real estate markets like Los Angeles, where homes cost about 10 times the median income.
There is also less competition for homes in these markets, which favors new homebuyers who can’t get into bidding wars. Listings are viewed in the top 15 cities on the market for an average of 20 days, nearly double the average of all metropolitan areas in the study.
Despite the lack of competition for homes, these cities are still expected to grow at a rate of 7.2% by July 2024. The national average is 5.4% for all markets surveyed. Based on Zillow real estate market forecasts.
These top 15 cities also contain a relatively high concentration of residents between the ages of 25 and 39, which are the most popular ages for first-time buyers. The study assumes that most first-time homebuyers in this age group prefer to live among their peers.
Notably, the best cities for first-time buyers tend to be smaller cities with populations close to 100,000. This makes sense, since housing costs and living expenses are usually more expensive in big cities like New York or San Francisco.
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