Starter-Home Squeeze: Where First-Time Buyers Still Find a Foothold
PR Newswire•08/10/2026•06:00 ET
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Key Highlights
- ➤National starter-home share fell to 36.2% from 38.1% since 2019
- ➤Starter-home price threshold rose 30.8% to roughly $340,000
- ➤More than 21,000 potential starter-priced listings are missing nationally
- ➤Condos and townhomes reached 27.1% of starter inventory, up from 18.0%
- ➤Toledo leads starter-home share at 42.1%, followed by St. Louis at 40.7%
Expert Statements
Hannah Jones, Senior economist, Realtor.com
“Affordability is only part of the story. What matters as much is whether affordable homes are actually for sale in the places where buyers want and need to live.”
Hannah Jones, Senior economist, Realtor.com
“For first-time buyers, the search is increasingly shaped by the geography of opportunity, not simply a metro's headline price. Keeping homeownership within reach will require more entry-level homes at attainable price points.”
Hannah Jones, Senior economist, Realtor.com
“Condos and townhomes are quietly becoming an increasingly important entry point to homeownership.”
Hannah Jones, Senior economist, Realtor.com
“That does not erase the broader affordability challenge, but it does show that the starter-home market is adapting as single-family homes become less accessible to first-time buyers.This data underscores the need to build all types of housing, a key point raised by the Realtor.com through the industry-wide Let America Build™ campaign.”
Hannah Jones, Senior economist, Realtor.com
“Metro-wide averages are a useful starting point, but they cannot tell a buyer whether they will have choices across neighborhoods or whether affordability is limited to a few specific pockets.”
Hannah Jones, Senior economist, Realtor.com
“Buyers should look beyond the citywide number and consider how starter-priced homes are distributed across the places that fit their lives.”
Hannah Jones, Senior economist, Realtor.com
“Despite a national market that has become less friendly to entry-level buyers, the picture is not uniformly bleak.”
Hannah Jones, Senior economist, Realtor.com
“The Midwest continues to offer something that is increasingly rare: meaningful starter inventory spread across enough neighborhoods to give buyers both affordability and real choice.”
Starter-Home Squeeze: Where First-Time Buyers Still Find a Foothold PR Newswire
New Realtor.com(®) report finds entry-level inventory has thinned nationally since 2019, while Midwest markets still give buyers a meaningful path in
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