The Cheapest US Metro Areas to Buy a House Right Now
As more workers get the green light to continue working remotely, those who pay high rents in major cities may consider moving to a place with a lower cost of living. Unfortunately for them, many other people had the same idea, skyrocketing home prices.
In fact, according to a report by Realtor.com , the median US list price of a home was $392,000 in February 2022 and has risen every month since the start of 2020. This is partly because the supply of affordable housing has steadily declined throughout the pandemic.
But that doesn’t mean first-time homebuyers are out of luck. The same report from a real estate classifieds site listed 10 US metropolitan areas with the cheapest homes on the market.
10 Cheapest American Subways to Buy a Home
Generally speaking, these are small or medium-sized cities that were once centers of production and/or agriculture. As industries moved, so did jobs, and often many of their former employees, leaving empty homes and neighborhoods.
“These areas tend to have lower median incomes and a lower cost of living, which helps keep home prices lower,” Hannah Jones, economic research analyst at Realtor.com, said in a company report . “These subways are also largely spared from rising housing costs due to the influx of remote workers, who usually look for places in the mountains and on the beaches.”
Not surprisingly, most of these former industrial centers are located in the Midwest, and none of the states west of Kansas made this list. Here are the urban areas that did, along with their median house price in February 2022:
- Peoria, Illinois Average list price: $98,000.
- Terre Haute, Indiana Average list price: $104,900.
- Saginaw, Michigan Average list price: $112,200.
- Youngstown, Ohio Average list price: $118,000.
- Davenport, Iowa . Average list price: $127,400
- Erie, PA Average list price: $148,400.
- Charleston, West Virginia Average list price: $148,900.
- Utica, New York . Average list price: $169,450
- Macon, GA Average list price: $174,950.
- Topeka, Kansas Average Listing Price: $184,950
Of course, even if you can buy a house on the cheap, you still have to furnish and decorate it. The good news is that these former industrial cities tend to have especially good architectural scrap shops , where you can get well-made local items at reasonable prices.