Poll Names Cary Among Best US Cities for First Time Homebuyers

Taking a look at almost 450 municipalities across the entire country, the real estate experts at Nerd Wallet have released their annual rankings for the Best US Cities for First Time Homebuyers, and in what comes as no surprise to town residents, Cary was listed among the top 25 nationally and was highest ranked among any towns and cities in NC.

The rankings and final listing of Best US Cities for First Time Homebuyers is determined annually at the end of each calendar year by Nerd Wallet using the most recent data that is available from the United States’ Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, with some assistance from both the online data provider Neighborhood Scout, and Down Payment Resource and as noted by the website’s blog writers, Emily Starbuck, and Daniel Tonkovich, the information these sources provide allows the site to assess the availability of homeownership assistance programs that are able to help first time buyers in each of the 448 markets studied. In addition to those statistics, it was also noted that as a side note, each of the towns and cities in the top 25 of the Best US Cities for First Time Homebuyers poll also was among the top in other important categories which a young family may look for including crime rate and schools and education. The three major numbers that were calculated, putting Cary at number 221 among the 448 municipalities across the country are affordability, livability, and stability. For affordability, which accounted for 40 percent of the overall scoring to decide the final listing, the final numbers were calculated using the ratio of average household income compared to home price ratio with the access residents would have to some type of assistance program also considered. Cary’s highest scoring area was its “Livability index”, which saw the town in the 82ndpercentile, and was based on the aforementioned crime rankings and the overall rankings of the educational systems and public schools. The stability factor was based on employment data and year-over-year housing prices and also accounted for 30 percent of the overall rankings. To read the entire article on the Best US Cities for First Time Home Buyers, including the entire statistical chart on all 448 municipalities analyzed, visit nerdwallet.com.