Best and Worst Cities for First-Time Homebuyers

July 24, 2024  |  Homebuilding, Market Info, Real Estate

Best Cities for First-time Homebuyers

First-time homebuyers may find this article from WalletHub interesting. WalletHub is a personal finance company providing tools for consumers to help them lead financially healthy lives. In a July 16th article, WalletHub ranked the best and worst cities for First Time Homebuyers in 2024. Spoiler alert – Berkeley, California is ranked as the WORST overall city for first-time homebuyers. Taking first place for the BEST overall city is Palm Bay, Florida. Rankings are determined using three key areas – affordability, the real estate market, and quality of life. From there, additional metrics are considered. The entire methodology is explained in detail on WalletHub.

The Best and Worst cities rankings look at 300 cities. The image above is a snapshot of the top 10 overall best cities for first-time homebuyers. The top three overall cities are Palm Bay, Cape Coral, and Port St Lucie – all Florida cities. Again, the overall rankings take a lot of data into consideration. So being the best city overall doesn’t mean these are the least expensive markets. However, when considering affordability, the overall real estate market, and quality of life, these Florida cities rose to the top.

Palm Bay

WalletHub reports the following about Palm Bay: “Palm Bay, FL, is the best city for first-time home buyers. It leads the country when it comes to active home listings per capita and new building permits per capita, so there are plenty of older and brand-new homes to choose from. In addition, while it’s a stereotype that millennials struggle to buy homes, Palm Bay has the third-highest millennial home-ownership rate.

Palm Bay residents can also look forward to their homes growing in value, as the city has the fourth-highest home appreciation rate in the country. Homes in the city were worth 106% more in 2022 than they were in 2016.

It’s also worth noting that Palm Bay has a pretty decent school system, too, for those who have or want children.”

Cape Coral

Regarding Cape Coral, WalletHub reports: “Cape Coral, FL, is the second-best city for first-time home buyers, boasting an extremely high number of active home listings and new building permits per capita. It also leads the country when it comes to real-estate agents per capita, which helps ensure that people are able to find good houses for their needs and makes the process go more smoothly.

In addition, Cape Coral is a good place to live because it has a low crime rate. It has the 16th-lowest violent crime rate and 12th-lowest property crime rate in the country out of the 300 cities in this study.

To top things off, Cape Coral has the 9th-best school system, so it’s especially good for home buyers who have children or plan to have them in the future.”

Port St Lucie

And lastly, Wallethub wrote the following regarding Port St Lucie: “Port St. Lucie, FL, is the third-best city for first-time home buyers, and like the other top cities, it stands out for having a large number of new building permits and active home listings per capita. Port St. Lucie also has the second-highest millennial homeownership rate in the country, at 64%.

Port St. Lucie is a very safe city, too. It has the second-lowest property crime rate and the 12th-lowest violent crime rate in the country. And when it comes to education, it ties Cape Coral for the 9th-best school system.

In addition, Port St. Lucie has the 16th-highest home price appreciation in the country, with homes worth 96% more in 2022 than they were in 2016. The city has the 23rd-lowest foreclosure rate among the 300 cities in our study, too.”

Holiday Builders’ New Homes

Holiday Builders offers new homes in Palm Bay, Cape Coral, and Port St Lucie. Naturally, we are delighted to see these cities with such high marks. Each of these cities is what Holiday Builders calls “scattered lot” communities. That means as a homebuilder, we purchase lots scattered throughout each city, for new home builds. Additionally, we offer “build on your lot” programs so that property owners may have a home built on land they already own. Scattered lot communities mean that homesites are not part of a deed-restricted community and therefore do not have any HOA fees. Lastly, Holiday Builders offers three floorplan collections to meet the needs of a variety of homebuyers. These floorplans vary in square footage and features. Our Cornerstone collection plans may be personalized with design options including flooring, countertops and cabinetry. Each Cornerstone home comes with a 2-year non-transferable warranty. Our Value and Inspire collection of plans offer standard features and a one-year non-transferable warranty. The differentiating factor is the square footage, bed, bath and garage counts. Inspire homes are smaller footprint homes offering 2 to 3 bedrooms, 1 to 2 baths and a one-car garage.

Holiday Builders offers a one-stop shop for homebuyers. We provide mortgage lending through our lending partner Coastal Loans. When using Coastal Loans, homebuyers are invited to take advantage of closing cost contributions and opportunities for lower finance rates for qualified buyers. Our subsidiary HB Title handles all our closings. Together we provide a seamless operation for all homebuyers, first time, or seasoned. Visit HolidayBuilders.com for the latest in plans and pricing. And be sure to check out our inventory in the top-ranked overall cities in the nation, Palm Bay, Cape Coral and Port St Lucie.

This post was written by Tina Suiter.