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The 10 Cities Where It’s Easiest to Find a Home Under $200,000
By Leslie Cook MONEY RESEARCH COLLECTIVE
Affordable homes do exist — but don’t get your hopes up for locations along the coasts.
Even with falling home prices in recent months, the national median cost of a house is still up around $400,000. But potential buyers stressed out by the lack of affordability in the housing market can still find homes priced under $200,000 — they just need to know where to look.
What the research says
To find the housing markets with the most affordable homes, Realtor.com analyzed listing data for the top 100 metros in the country, looking for those with both the highest number and the highest percentage of listings under $200,000. The two data points were then averaged together to determine the ranking order.
- Most of the cities on the list are located in the middle of the country and are traditionally more affordable housing markets compared to coastal cities.
- The typical monthly payment on a $200,000 home, making a down payment of 10% and not including insurance, HOA fees and taxes, is $1,200 — much lower than the average monthly payment of around $1,900.
Cities with most home listings under $200,000
- Detroit, Michigan: 3,296 listings under $200,000
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: 2,026 listings under $200,000
- Cleveland, Ohio: 1,598 listings under $200,000
- St. Louis, Missouri: 1,622 listings under $200,000
- Baltimore, Maryland: 1,202 listings under $200,000
- Birmingham, Alabama: 873 listings under $200,000
- Chicago, Illinois: 3,662 listings under $200,000
- Memphis, Tennessee: 711 listings under $200,000
- Indianapolis, Indiana: 879 listings under $200,000
- Rochester, New York: 923 listings under $200,000
Keep in mind
There are a number of reasons why a home might be priced low, and just because a house is listed at a cheap price does not mean it’s a good value. It’s essential to research the neighborhood where a listing is located to see how that home compares to others in the area. The age and condition of the home are key factors as well when you’re looking to buy a house.
- Some of the more affordable homes in these cities may be old and need a lot of repairs or may be located in aging neighborhoods that still haven’t been revamped.
- You may find houses that have been renovated but are located in up-and-coming neighborhoods that may have a mix of older and newer homes.
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Leslie Cook is the Lead Mortgage Reporter covering real estate and mortgages for Money. She started out over 30 years ago as a business reporter with Caribbean Business newspaper in San Juan, Puerto Rico, covering computers, and human resources. Her work has also appeared in Reuters and she graduated Cum Laude from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania with a bacheloru2019s degree in history.