Report Finds Overland Park is the Best City for First-Time Homebuyers; Compton Deemed the Worst

When purchasing a home, consumers often analyze the home further than just the outward appearance. WalletHub released a report titled “2015’s Best and Worst Cities for First-Time Home Buyers” on Monday, reviewing the level of attractiveness for cities all over the U.S. to determine how attractive a home is to first-time homebuyers.

The report, written by Richie Bernardo, found that Overland Park, Kansas is the best city for first-time buyers, while Compton, California was labeled as the worst city for first-time buyers.

WalletHub reviewed the cities according to 18 key metrics including housing affordability rank, real-estate market rank, and living environment rank.  The also looked at annual income, real-estate tax rate, rent-to-priece ratio, home price appreciation, property crime rate, and home energy cost. A total of 300 U.S. cities were compared to determine the attractiveness of their first-time home-buyer markets.

“Buying a home for the first time is an exciting and important milestone in the lives of most consumers, Bernardo said. “That was, at least, until the housing bubble collapsed nearly a decade ago. Today, home buyers are more skeptical than ever in the wake of the financial crisis, especially given the drastic variations in economic recovery across the U.S.”

In 2014, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that among buyers of primary residences, 33 percent were first-timers, while the historical average has been 40 percent for this group, WalletHub mentioned in the report. In addition, a recent Gallup poll found that 41 percent of non-homeowners in 2015 don’t plan to buy a home in the foreseeable future, compared with 31 percent two years ago.

According to the report, Overland Park, the best city for first-time homebuyers ranked 32 in terms of housing affordability, 25th in the real estate market, and came in third place in the living environment category. Allen, Texas, Centennial, Colorado, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, and Frisco, Texas finished out the top five best cities for first-time homebuyers.

On the other hand, the city of Compton, California, deemed the worst city for first-time buyers ranked 291 in terms of housing affordability, 295th in the real estate market, and 260th in the living environment category. Oakland, California, New Bedford, Massachusetts, Miami Beach, Florida, and Richmond, California rounded out the bottom five cities for first-time homebuyers.

“2015’s Best and Worst Cities for First-Time Home Buyers” Report Highlights:

• Frisco, Texas has the highest median annual income, while Patterson, New Jersey has the lowest median annual income.
• Flint, Michigan has the most affordable housing, while Santa Monica has the least affordable housing.
• Honolulu, Hawaii has the lowest real-estate tax rate, while Waukegan, Illinois has the highest real-estate tax rate.
• Detroit, Michigan has the lowest rent-to-priece ratio, while Sunnyvale, California has the highest rent-to-priece ratio.
• Sunnyvale, California has the highest median home price appreciation, while Detroit, Michigan has the lowest median home price appreciation.

Click here to view WalletHub's "2015’s Best and Worst Cities for First-Time Home Buyers" Report.