The Toughest Housing Markets for First-Time Homebuyers

Denver has been named the "most challenging" city in the nation for first-time homebuyers to access, ahead of other tough cities including Las Vegas, San Francisco, and New York, per mortgage company LendingTree's ranking.

Not only did Denver rank as the most challenging cities in the U.S. for first-time homebuyers, the city also topped the list for fewest months supply of housing inventory, 1.1 months. Denver started 2018 with record-low for-sale inventory, 3,869 listings, according to a recent market trends report from the Denver Metro Association of Realtors, per the Denver Business Journal.

LendingTree said it used the following criteria to come up with its rankings, including average down payment amount needed; the share of buyers using an FHA mortgage; average down payment percentage; percentage of buyers who have less than prime credit (below 680); the share of homes sold that the median income family can afford (Housing Opportunity Index); and average FHA down payment as a percentage of average down payment for all loans.

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