Last week, NerdWallet compiled a ranking of the “Best Places for Homeownership,” which analyzed select metrics in the 100 most populated metro areas in the U.S. to identify the top 10 small, mid-sized, and big cities for homeowners (of course, the small cities are still among the 100 most populated metros, so small is subjective). They set out to identify these cities by examining the following data: homeownership rate, and population growth. They also used median household income and monthly homeowner costs to measure cost of living, “to asses whether residents could live comfortably in the area.” While these are all important metrics, they did not take into consideration the price of a new or existing home in these cities, which is quite high in Denver, Colo., Salt Lake City, Utah, and Raleigh, N.C.
Builder has used Metrostudy data to pull the median closing price for both new and existing homes, as well as the average household income of new and existing buyers (of course, there is a difference between the two). To re-rank NerdWallet’s top 10 based on new homeownership, Builder calculates how much more home buyers in each market would pay for a new home based on last year’s median closing price. The percent increase represents the additional cost based on the existing home median closing price and shows the difference in median price.
See the ranking and data on Builder >>