Real Estate Rumblings
North Texas dominates new rankings of best U.S. cities for first-time homebuyers
Despite the fact that there’s little in the way of new construction for them, first-time homebuyers in North Texas have it made. A recent study by WalletHub asserts that the DFW ’burbs are the best cities in the entire country for those about to plunk down some money on their first house.
Six of the top 10 cities for first-time homebuyers are Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs: Allen (No. 2), Denton (No. 4), Frisco (No. 5), Plano (No. 6), McKinney (No. 7) and Richardson (No. 10).
Looking beyond the top 10, North Texas continues to impress. Another five DFW-area spots made it into the top 25: Carrollton (No. 11), Grand Prairie (No. 12), Garland (No. 16), Arlington (No. 20) and Irving (No. 24).
To determine its list of best and worst cities for first-time homebuyers, WalletHub compared the 300 largest U.S. cities using 17 key metrics in three categories — affordability, real estate market and community environment — including median house prices, real estate taxes, median home price appreciation and price-to-rent ratios. Researchers also factored in things like crime rates, recreation and job markets.
Some other interesting tidbits: Three North Texas cities — Frisco, Allen and McKinney — ranked in the top five for highest median household income. Denton took the top spot for lowest total home energy cost.
The only other Texas city in the top 25 was El Paso, which landed at No. 14. Dallas proper ranked No. 81; Fort Worth took the No. 35 spot.