Top 10 Cities Where Homebuyers Can Buy New for Less

A new house for under $300,000? You’re not dreaming. You’re just in one of these ten cities where buying new doesn’t mean breaking the bank. For a median price lower than the rest of the nation, buyers can snatch up a deal with none of the mysteries of an existing home sale—no trash in the attic or suspect stains in these shiny new homes. Savvy savers looking to settle down can start the next chapter of their life in charming cities such as Atlanta or Tucson, Arizona. See if your dream city makes the list or find a new one.

There are a whole lot of reasons many folks prefer buying newly constructed homes—with their shiny new finishes, faucets, and fixtures—as opposed to places that have accumulated the grime, wear, and tear of generations of strangers.

But price is definitely not one of them.

The harsh reality is that you'll pay a premium for the privilege of buying a house in which no one has so much as boiled water on the stove or taken a bath in the tub. Across the U.S., the median price of a newly built home was $316,700 in October, according to the National Association of Realtors®—a steep 16.9% increase over existing homes. Yikes! It's a continuing hangover from the Great Recession, when home construction in most markets ground to a halt. Now that it's finally picking up again, builders are focusing more on higher-end, higher-profit projects.

Read More