The fondly remembered real estate market of 2019 still exists, if you know where to look.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic rocked the country’s housing markets, median sale prices under $300,000 were the national norm. The typical US home today, however, costs buyers well over $400,000.
While homeownership feels out of reach for many Americans, frugal buyers should check out these cities for the most affordable options.
More than 140 locations across the US boast median listing prices $300,000 or less, including more than a dozen metros, according to new Realtor.com data. Economists documented a high concentration of affordable buyers’ markets still thriving in the South and the Midwest.
While that’s not happy news for city dwellers in New York or Boston, where high density and high demand mean ever-increasing prices, buyers looking in cities like Detroit are in luck.
The Motor City topped the list of most affordable metros with median listing prices of $109,000. Detroit’s economy is leaps and bounds ahead of where it was a decade ago, yet the housing market remains undervalued. The typical homeowner in Detroit spends less than 20% of their income on housing expenses, according to the US News Housing Market Index. The national average is more than 30%.
“Some of these cities, such as Detroit or Baltimore, have gone through challenging periods,” said Hannah Jones, senior economic research analyst at Realtor.com. “However, recent investment and growth have put them back on the map as appealing, affordable places to put down roots.”
Median prices under $200,000 can also be found in Birmingham, AL and St. Louis, MO.
While the West Coast notched no spots and the Northeast barely appeared beyond Pennsylvania, the South looked mighty affordable in the Realtor.com roundup. More than a dozen Southern metros clocked in under the $300,000 mark, including Memphis, TN at $218,200 and Oklahoma City at $285,855.
Major cities like Baltimore, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh and Memphis also made the under-$300,000 list.
Affordability could even be found even in popular Florida and Texas metros.
In Florida, median sales prices in Clearwater, Jacksonville and Ocala came in just under $300,000. The Sunshine State enjoyed a real estate boom over the last several years, but recent sluggish sales point to a new cooling off period. Texas buyers should take a look at the highly affordable homes in Lubbock, El Paso and San Antonio to get the best bang for their buck.
Housing inventory in the two popular states has rebounded beyond pre-pandemic levels, according to Realtor.com, helping to lower once-surging listing prices.
The housing market is still far away from bridging the country’s affordability gap, but slowing sales trends — including the fact the sellers now outnumber buyers for the first time in more than a decade — suggest the beginning of the end to the runaway growth of the 2020s housing market.