First-Time Home Buyers Fare Poorly In Miami

MIAMI, FL — The Miami area may be a great place to raise a family, retire or take a vacation but not so much for first time home buyers. The Magic City ranked 288th out of 300 U.S. cities and 59th among other large cities for new home buyers, according to personal finance website WalletHub. The website considered housing affordability, real estate tax rates, property crime rates and other factors.

"July being one of the top months for home sales and nearly 40 percent of 2017’s single-family home purchases made by first-time buyers, the personal-finance website WalletHub took an in-depth look at 2018's Best & Worst Cities for First-Time Home Buyers," explained a spokesperson for the website in releasing the findings on Monday. "WalletHub took the pulse of real estate in 300 cities of varying sizes using 27 key metrics."

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Miami ranked 201st for housing affordability, 171st for real estate tax rates, 181st for cost of living, 121st for rent to price ratio, 221st for its foreclosure rate, 228th for its property crime rate and 102nd for total energy costs.

Click here to read the full report.

Tampa topped the list of the 63 largest cities for first time home buyers followed by Colorado Springs, Colorado and Raleigh, North Carolina.

Boise, Idaho; Grand Rapids, Michigan and McKinney, Texas topped the list of midsize cities while Broken Arrow, Oklahoma; Centennial, Colorado and Thornton, Colorado were deemed best in the country among small cities.

"The search for a first home requires careful consideration of a number of factors. Buyers must balance what they want and need with to what they can afford," WalletHub penned. "Often, people begin searching for their dream homes without a realistic idea of market prices, interest rates or even their eligibility to get a mortgage."

This beautiful Coconut Grove home is listed at $2.5 million, Photo courtesy Realtor.com. See the complete listing here.