With just 32 percent of home purchases last year made by first-time buyers, compared to the historical average of 40 percent, the personal-finance website WalletHub recently released its report on the “Best & Worst Cities for First-Time Home Buyers in 2024.”
The survey identified where people stand to save the most money and enjoy the best living conditions by taking the pulse of real estate in 300 cities of varying sizes using 22 key metrics, WalletHub said in a release.
The data set ranged from housing affordability to the real-estate tax rate to the crime rate.
The top five cities for first-time homebuyers were in the state of Florida. They are, in order, Palm Bay, Cape Coral, Port St. Lucie, Tampa and Orlando. In spots 6-to-10 were Surprise, Ariz., Lakeland, Fla., Boise, Idaho, Gilbert, Ariz. and Henderson, Nev.
The worst locations for first-time homebuyers centered on the state of California (Costa Mesa, Glendale, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Santa Barrbara, Santa Monica and Berkely). New York, N.Y., and Anchorage, Alaska, joined the list of the least desirable place to purchase a home initially.
Best versus worst takeaways from the survey were:
- Detroit, Mich., has the most affordable housing (median house price divided by median annual household income), which is 10.4 times cheaper than in Santa Barbara, Calif., the city with the least affordable housing.
- Honolulu has the lowest real-estate tax rate, which is 11 times lower than in Waterbury, Conn., the city with the highest.
- Flint, Mich., has the highest rent-to-price ratio, which is 14.2 times higher than in Santa Monica, Calif., the city with the lowest.
- Baton Rouge, La., has the lowest total home-energy cost per month, which is 3.4 times lower than in Bakersfield, Calif., the city with the highest.