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It’s no secret that buying a home can be one of the most expensive purchases of your life. When you look at your down payment, closing costs, and property taxes, it adds up quickly.
If you’re looking to relocate in retirement, it can be daunting to start the home buying process again. But rest assured, there are still a handful of states with affordable home prices.
A recent study by SmartAsset ranked the top 10 cheapest states to buy a home by looking at effective property tax rate, median listing price, median listing price per square foot, median home value for the bottom one-third of homes and average closing costs.
South by Midwest
The South and Midwest are the two areas of the country with the most affordable homes. In fact, seven of these top 10 states are in the South, with the remaining three states located in the Midwest. And when you take a wider view, only one of the top 25 are in the Northeast, with three states in the Mountain West.
All of the 10 states with the cheapest housing costs are in the top 33% when it comes to the same three criteria: median listing price per square foot, median home value for the bottom one-third of home values and average closing costs.
But which states claim the top spot? West Virginia is the most affordable state, with a median listing price of $169,900. They also take the top spot when it comes to median bottom-third value at $40,700.
Next up is Arkansas with a median listing price of just $10,000 more, bringing it to $179,900. And rounding out the top five cheapest states to buy a home are Alabama, Mississippi and Oklahoma.
So if you’re looking to move somewhere with an affordable home cost, see what these 10 states have to offer.
