SmartAsset was out Wednesday with its list of the best cities for first-time home buyers. Texas, it would appear, is a prime destination for those looking for an affordable house.
To derive its list, SmartAsset looked specifically at data on seven factors: the number of HUD-approved lenders, loan funding ratios, the average price per square foot, housing affordability, homeowner stability, home price volatility and the number of negative quarters over the past six years.
- The West Coast and Northeast struggle. The highest-ranked city in a state on the West Coast is Fresno at 28. Seven of the study’s bottom 10 cities are in California. Similarly, the Northeast only has two cities in the top 25. One reason for this may simply be that cities on the West Coast and in the Northeast tend to have a higher cost of living than cities in the center of the country.
- Texas still hot for first-time homebuyers. The Lone Star State consistently does well in our rankings, and this year is no different. Three Texas cities are in the top 10, and two of those are in the top three.
- Volatile markets sink to the bottom. While the top cities do better across multiple metrics, the top-10-ranked cities do relatively better than the bottom-10-ranked cities in terms of market volatility.
