These Are the Best Markets for First-Time Homebuyers Right Now

With the cost of renting a home remaining high, some renters are considering purchasing a home of their own, and taking on mortgage payments instead.

If you’re ready to make the leap, you may be interested in a report from experts at Realtor.com, which identified the 10 best markets for first-time homebuyers in 2023. Here’s what to know.

That best markets for first-time homebuyers in 2023

To come up with this list, real estate analysts at Realtor.com ranked 659 cities with a population of more than 5,000 located within the country’s 100 largest metro areas, limiting their picks to one spot per metro area.

The rankings are based on how well each city met the following criteria, consisting of features considered attractive to first-time homebuyers:

• The share of 25 to 34 year olds in the local population.
• The availability of homes for sale, measured by active listings per 1000 existing households, to ensure that homebuyers have a good amount of choice in their search.
• A measure of affordability, estimated by the ratio of listing prices to gross incomes of 25 to 34 year olds in that city.
• A measure of job opportunities, estimated by the forecasted unemployment rate of the city’s surrounding metro area.
• The average commute time to work.
• A measure of the amenities in an area, estimated by the count of food and drink establishments per 1000 households in the city’s surrounding metro area.
• Forecasted metro home sales and home price growth in 2023, as new buyers may want to ensure they locate to a healthy market which will support equity growth and an easy transition when they have outgrown their home.

G/O Media may get a commission

Up to $100 credit

Samsung Reserve

Reserve the next gen Samsung device
All you need to do is sign up with your email and boom: credit for your preorder on a new Samsung device.

When the calculations were complete, these 10 cities came out on top:

1. Portsmouth, VA (Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC metro area)
2. DeForest, WI (Madison, WI metro area)
3. Windsor Locks, CT (Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT metro area)
4. Gloucester City, NJ (Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metro area)
5. Moore, OK (Oklahoma City, OK metro area)
6. Magna, UT (Salt Lake City, UT metro area)
7. Eggertsville, NY (Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls, NY metro area)
8. Watervliet, NY (Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY metro area)
9. Mattydale, NY (Syracuse, NY metro area)
10. Somersworth, NH (Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area)

The full report has additional details if you’re interested in a closer look at the picks, or Realtor.com’s methodology.