NYC Among Nation's Worst Places To Buy A First Home, Ranking Says

NEW YORK — It's hard enough to rent an apartment in New York City — but buying one is even tougher, a new report suggests. The Big Apple is the seventh-worst big city in America for house-hunters buying their first home, according to a WalletHub ranking published Tuesday.

The personal finance website evaluated 300 U.S. cities of varying sizes based on 27 metrics of their friendliness to first-time buyers, from housing affordability to real-estate tax rates to crime rates.

New York City ranked 58th among the 64 cities with more than 300,000 people on the list, meaning only six big cities are worse than the Big Apple for when it comes to buying one's first home, according to WalletHub.

As it often is, the city was hamstrung by its high costs. It tied for the nation's highest cost of living and has the 18th-highest cost of a home per square foot at $652.44, according to WalletHub. And it has the 15th-worst millennial homeownership rate at 12.18 percent, the ranking found.

But New York's performance still marked an improvement from last year's list, when WalletHub ranked it fourth from the bottom among big cities.

Big Apple home-buyers have it easier than their counterparts in Detroit, Michigan, which came in dead last on this year's ranking below four California cities. But New Yorkers eager to purchase their a piece of property should join the snowbirds in Tampa, Florida, which was named the best big city for first-time home buyers.

Here are the 10 worst large cities for first-time home buyers, according to WalletHub. See the full ranking here.

1. Detroit
2. Oakland, California
3. Los Angeles
4. San Francisco
5. Long Beach, California
6. Boston
7. New York City
8. Washington, D.C.
9. Honolulu
10. Miami