Top 10 Cities for First-Time Home Buyers?

With July being one of the top months for home sales and a third of all home buyers also being first-timers, personal-finance website WalletHub took an in-depth look at 2016′s Best & Worst Cities for First-Time Home Buyers. To determine the most favorable housing markets for first-time buyers, WalletHub’s analysts took the pulse of real estate in 300 cities of varying sizes. The company’s data set ranges from housing affordability to real-estate tax rate to property-crime rate. Check out the below lists for the top 10 best cities for first-time home buyers and the worst 10 cities based on their ranking. Best Cities for First-Time Home Buyers 1          Overland Park, KS 2          Greeley, CO 3          Thornton, CO 4          Cedar Rapids, IA 5          Westminster, CO 6          Longmont, CO 7          Boise, ID 8          Lincoln, NE 9          Centennial, CO 10        Lexington, KY Worst Cities for First-Time Home Buyers 291      Inglewood, CA 292      Paterson, NJ 293      New York, NY 294      Miami, FL 295      Compton, CA 296      Santa Barbara, CA 297      Berkeley, CA 298      Oakland, CA 299      Miami Beach, FL 300      Newark, NJ Best vs. Worst; WalletHub’s analysis

• Santa Monica, CA has the lowest housing affordability, 6.6%, which is 12 times lower than in Detroit, the city with the highest, 76.5%.
• Honolulu has the lowest real-estate tax rate, 0.29%, which is 12 times lower than in Waukegan, Ill., the city with the highest, 3.49%.
• Detroit has the highest rent-to-price ratio, 23.17%, which is six times higher than in Sunnyvale, Calif., the city with the lowest, 3.64%.
• Laredo, Texas, has the lowest cost-of-living index, which is three times lower than in New York, the city with the highest.
• Mission Viejo, Calif., has the lowest number of property crimes per 1,000 residents, 8.9, which is 12 times lower than in Miami Beach, Fla., the city with the highest, 102.7.
• Shreveport, La., has the lowest average energy cost per household, $127.60, which is four times lower than in Honolulu, the city with the highest, $504.30.