according to Realtor.com<\/a>.<\/p>\nWhile much of the country is pricing out first-time buyers, Steel City is behaving like it didn\u2019t get the memo.<\/p>\n
The metro\u2019s median listing price hovered around $250,000 in October \u2014 far below what buyers face in most large markets.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pittsburgh is emerging as one of the country\u2019s rare affordability bright spots, with a median listing price of $250,000 in October \u2014 more than $150,000 below the national median. checubus \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n
\u201cIn October, Pittsburgh remained the lowest-priced large US housing market, with a median listing price of $250,000, more than $150,000 below the national median,\u201d Hannah Jones, senior economic research analyst at Realtor.com, said.<\/p>\n
Even with slight increases over the past five years, the region\u2019s relative calm has turned it into an affordability anomaly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a housing landscape where affordability has eroded nationwide, Pittsburgh remains a rare bright spot where buying a home is still within reach for most households,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n
The city\u2019s appeal for new buyers isn\u2019t just about cheap price tags.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Prices are only about 6% higher than five years ago, and the city recently ranked as the only major metro where becoming a first-time homeowner is cheaper than renting. Tupungato \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n
Research also shows that Pittsburgh is one of just three large metros where a median-income household can afford a median-priced home, and in July it was the only major metro where that same buyer could afford more than half of all listings. Steven \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n
Realtor.com\u2019s analysis found Pittsburgh was the only major metro where a typical first-time homeowner would spend less on a mortgage than on rent \u2014 and one of only a few where a median-income household can qualify for a median-priced home.<\/p>\n
This summer, the market\u2019s depth stood out even more.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis underscores that, more than anywhere else, the typical Pittsburgh buyer still has real options in today\u2019s housing market,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n
Those options are visible on the ground.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Roughly 5,800 homes were listed for sale this fall, a level that agents say gives newcomers a chance to be picky.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Inventory is plentiful, with 5,842 homes on the market. ZBreakiron \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n
\u201cBuyers have a lot of choices in every price point,\u201d agent Jackie Bohdan, who notes that affordability is drawing transplants working in fields like IT, healthcare, and robotics, said. oldmn \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n
\u201cBuyers have a lot of choices in every price point, so they can always find something,\u201d Jackie Bohdan of Your Town Realty said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She adds that affordability is drawing workers relocating for jobs in IT, healthcare and robotics.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of my clients are transplants rather than locals,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The city\u2019s population has grown by more than 4,700 residents since 2020, according to Census Bureau estimates, and homeownership levels outpace the national average.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The city has added nearly 5,000 residents since 2020 and boasts a homeownership rate of roughly 69.5%, well above the national average. Rawf8 \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n
Pittsburgh also offers grants and other incentives that Bohdan says have saved some first-time buyers \u201cthousands of dollars.\u201d SNEHIT PHOTO \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n
Bohdan says she\u2019s seeing a wave of first-time buyers \u2014 most in their 30s, though some are barely out of college \u2014 who are entering the market more easily than they could elsewhere.<\/p>\n
\u201cLower prices make it easier for buyers to enter the market here,\u201d she said. \u201cThe majority of my clients are first-time buyers in their 30s \u2014 but my youngest client was just 21.\u201d<\/p>\n
City-backed incentives are sweetening the deal, too, with grants and assistance programs that trim upfront costs for qualified buyers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish more people were aware of the incentives and took advantage of them,\u201d Bohdan said. \u201cSome of my clients have saved themselves thousands of dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The steel city is offering up some steals.\u00a0 Pittsburgh may not have the sun-soaked gloss of Los Angeles…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[6223,61,6685,21402,8176,28,73,75,74,1081,21403,7609,17604],"class_list":{"0":"post-34318","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh","8":"tag-analysis","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-homeowners","11":"tag-interest-rates","12":"tag-markets","13":"tag-pennsylvania","14":"tag-pittsburgh","15":"tag-pittsburgh-headlines","16":"tag-pittsburgh-news","17":"tag-real-estate","18":"tag-rent","19":"tag-rentals","20":"tag-residential-real-estate"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}