Here are the best cities for first-time homebuyers
For people across the United States, buying a house is one of life’s biggest investments. But housing markets across the country are not created equal for first-time homebuyers who bought 24% of the homes sold last year.
Looking at metrics such as market attractiveness, affordability and quality of life, credit score tracker WalletHub evaluated 300 U.S. cities before crowning Palm Bay, Florida, as its top-ranked city for first-time buyers. WalletHub said that the central Florida locale — which also nabbed ninth place on a 2025 list of best-performing cities from the Milken Institute think tank — leads the country in active home listings and new building permits per capita. Palm Bay also has the third-highest home appreciation rate in the U.S. Boise, Idaho; Tampa, Florida; Surprise, Arizona; and Huntsville, Alabama, rounded out the remaining top five spots. California’s Santa Monica and Berkeley ranked lowest on the list, coming in at 299 and 300, respectively.
Prices rise for food, energy and gas
The Consumer Price Index posted another month of increases, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. After posting a 0.1% increase in May, the index rose 0.3% in June, making for an overall 2.7% increase over the past 12 months.
Most of that increase stemmed from shelter costs, which expanded by 0.2%, with energy rising 0.9% and gasoline rising 1% in June. The index for food also rose, with at-home costs rising 0.3%. Excluding food and energy, June’s price index rose 0.2%, up from May’s 0.1% increase. Part of the overall uptick, analysts commented, stemmed from tariff impacts rippling across the global economy.
“People are starting to notice the price increases at the grocery store in coffee and fruit and in appliances and household items,” Heather Long, chief economist at the Navy Federal Credit Union, said in an email. “It’s only a matter of time before more price hikes take effect, especially for cars and trucks. Rising prices will make it harder for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates and tougher for families living paycheck to paycheck. The grocery store price increases hit especially hard for middle- and moderate-income households."
Construction backlog rebounds in June, but tariffs could bring difficulty
Construction backlogs ticked up in June, with some contractors reporting a delay stretching two months longer than a year ago, according to a member survey from the Associated Builders and Contractors. The trade group pushed its Construction Backlog Indicator up to 8.7 months, a 0.3-month increase from May 2025. Infrastructure projects claimed the longest backlogs of 9.3 months, while commercial and institutional clocked in at 8.9 months, and heavy industrial reported 6.8 months.
Ongoing data center construction helped buoy the metric, ABC noted, pointing out that its Construction Confidence Index strengthened in June for sales and profit margins.
“In addition to longer backlog, contractors remain broadly optimistic, with three in five contractors expecting their sales to rise during the second half of 2025,” said Anirban Basu, the group’s chief economist, in a press release. “Notably, this survey predates the most recent trade policy announcements, and one in five contractors had a project interrupted or paused due to tariffs in June. With some of the newest import taxes putting upward pressure on construction input prices, profit margin expectations may face pressure in the months to come.”