With July being one of the top months for home sales and a third of all home buyers also being first-timers, the personal-finance website WalletHub took an in-depth look at 2016’s Best & Worst Cities for First-Time Home Buyers.
To determine the most favorable housing markets for first-time buyers, WalletHub’s analysts took the pulse of real estate in 300 cities of varying sizes. Our data set ranges from housing affordability to real-estate tax rate to property-crime rate.
| Best Cities for First-Time Home Buyers | Worst Cities for First-Time Home Buyers | ||||
| 1 | Overland Park, KS | 291 | Inglewood, CA | ||
| 2 | Greeley, CO | 292 | Paterson, NJ | ||
| 3 | Thornton, CO | 293 | New York, NY | ||
| 4 | Cedar Rapids, IA | 294 | Miami, FL | ||
| 5 | Westminster, CO | 295 | Compton, CA | ||
| 6 | Longmont, CO | 296 | Santa Barbara, CA | ||
| 7 | Boise, ID | 297 | Berkeley, CA | ||
| 8 | Lincoln, NE | 298 | Oakland, CA | ||
| 9 | Centennial, CO | 299 | Miami Beach, FL | ||
| 10 | Lexington, KY | 300 | Newark, NJ | ||
Best vs. Worst
- Santa Monica, Calif., has the lowest housing affordability, 6.6 percent, which is 12 times lower than in Detroit, the city with the highest, 76.5 percent.
- Honolulu has the lowest real-estate tax rate, 0.29 percent, which is 12 times lower than in Waukegan, Ill., the city with the highest, 3.49 percent.
- Detroit has the highest rent-to-price ratio, 23.17 percent, which is six times higher than in Sunnyvale, Calif., the city with the lowest, 3.64 percent.
- Laredo, Texas, has the lowest cost-of-living index, which is three times lower than in New York, the city with the highest.
- Mission Viejo, Calif., has the lowest number of property crimes per 1,000 residents, 8.9, which is 12 times lower than in Miami Beach, Fla., the city with the highest, 102.7.
- Shreveport, La., has the lowest average energy cost per household, $127.60, which is four times lower than in Honolulu, the city with the highest, $504.30.
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