Florida is home to six of the top 10 markets for first-time buyers, according to WalletHub’s newly published list of the Best & Worst Cities for First-Time Home Buyers in 2024.
In number-crunching this year’s list, WalletHub analyzed 300 cities of varying sizes with 22 key metrics related to housing affordability, the real estate market and quality of life issues. Palm Bay, Florida, topped the list, with WalletHub analyst Cassandara Happe noting the city’s appeal “when it comes to active home listings per capita and new building permits per capita. Palm Bay has the third-highest millennial home-ownership rate and the fourth-highest home appreciation rate in the country. Homebuyers with children will benefit from Palm Bay’s good school system.”
The top five markets on the WalletHub list were based in the Sunshine State: Palm Bay, Cape Coral, Port St. Lucie, Tampa, and Orlando. Rounding out the top 10 were Surprise, Arizona; Lakeland, Florida; Boise, Idaho; Gilbert, Arizona; and Henderson, Nevada.
At the other end of the spectrum, Berkeley, California, was considered the worst city for first-time homebuyers. California had eight cities ranked in the 10 lowest berths of the list.
WalletHub found Detroit had the most affordable housing, which was 10.4 times cheaper than in Santa Barbara, California, the city with the least affordable housing. Honolulu had the lowest real-estate tax rate, which was 11 times lower than in Waterbury, Connecticut, the city with the highest.
Flint, Michigan, had the highest rent-to-price ratio, which was 14.2 times higher than in Santa Monica, California, the city with the lowest. And Baton Rouge, Louisiana, had the lowest total home-energy cost per month, which was 3.4 times lower than in Bakersfield, California, the city with the highest.
“Buying a home for the first time is a very stressful and difficult process, especially when housing prices are through the roof and interest rates have risen sharply in the past few years,” added Happe. “The best cities for first-time home buyers not only are affordable both in terms of buying a house and living there afterward, but they also have a lot of housing choices as well as low crime rates and good schools.”
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