Starter Homes Remain Affordable in Select US Cities
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What happened
A Realtor.com analysis of the 100 largest U.S. metro areas found that from August 2019 to August 2026, starter homes — listings priced at or below 80% of a metro's median list price — fell from 38.1% to 36.2% of national active inventory, while their typical price rose 30.8%, from about $260,000 to $340,000. The firm estimated that decline as a gap of more than 21,000 homes that would have been starter-priced if the 2019 share had held, and reported that only 18.3% of 8,300 ZIP codes studied were starter-home dominant. Over the same period, condos and townhomes rose from 18% of starter-priced listings to 27.1%. Boise, Idaho, posted the largest gain in starter-home share (+4.7 percentage points), followed by the Portland-Vancouver metro (+4.0) and Des Moines, Iowa (+3.7); August 2026 starter prices in metros that increased their share ranged from $220,000 in Detroit-Warren-Dearborn to $1,072,000 in San Jose-Sunnyvale. The largest declines were in Columbia, South Carolina (−8.3 percentage points), Winston-Salem, North Carolina (−7.5), and Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida (−6.9), with several other Sun Belt metros also among the steepest drops.
Sourcing check · Fully on the record · 2 articles
2 of 2 articles cite a named source for the story. It was on the record from the first report.
What these terms mean and how they're counted
- On the record · names a source 2 of 2
- On the record means the article cites a source by name for the story's main claim: a person, or an institution speaking officially, such as a company statement or a named agency's spokesperson. The opposite is an unnamed source. The count is how many of the counted articles cite at least one such source; the names are everyone named across them, each once however the articles spell it. Here: Realtor.com and Hannah Jones
- Primary evidence · cites a document or data 2 of 2
- Primary evidence means the article cites a record you could check yourself: a court filing or ruling, a dataset or report, a recording or transcript, an official statement or press release, market data. A quote is not a document. The count is how many articles cite one. Here: Realtor.com analysis, dataset
- Credits another outlet 0 of 2
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- The main claim is attributed to people who are not identified: “people familiar with the matter”, “officials said”. The count is how many articles do this.
- How it developed
- When the first report landed and whether it named anyone; when the first named source and the first document appeared. Here: First report Oct 9, 17:30 UTC by Fox Business, naming its source. First document in the first report, from Fox Business (Realtor.com analysis).
- Not counted 0
- Opinion, analysis and video pieces, and articles too short to assess. Every count above is out of the counted articles. An article republished under a new headline is one article.
This is about who is cited, not whether the story is true. Each source below says what it names. How we count
Omitted — what each side leaves out
Unpacked
Right-leaning coverage presents metros with rising starter-home shares as places where affordable entry-level housing still exists, without the local prices that left-leaning coverage prints. The largest gainers cited on the right are Boise, Portland, Des Moines, San Jose, and Denver, and no list price is given for any of them. San Jose's starter home is priced at $1,072,000 in the Business Insider ranking.
The two sides also split on what a starter listing even is. Right-leaning coverage notes that condos have taken a larger role in entry-level inventory, a shift left-leaning coverage never mentions. The condo and townhome share of starter homes stands at 27.1% in the Fox Business account.
What actually raised the starter-home share in those metros — more cheap listings coming on, or higher-priced homes dropping out?
Bottom line
You only get San Jose as a starter-home comeback if you read Fox Business; Business Insider's entry-level price there is $1,072,000, and Fox never prints it.
The receipts — 5 facts one side's coverage lacks
- San Jose-Sunnyvale 2026 starter home price is $1,072,000
- Columbia, South Carolina, starter-home share fell 8.3% from 2019 to 2026, the largest drop in the country
- Only 18.3% of ZIP codes in the largest 100 metros were starter-home dominant
- Condos comprised 18% of national starter-price inventory in August 2019
- Realtor economist Hannah Jones said the first-time buyer search is increasingly shaped by the geography of opportunity, not simply a metro's headline price
The Left View
Business Insider framed the report as showing starter homes "getting harder to find" as first-time-buyer options "are dwindling" and mortgage rates "continue to reach new heights," with even starter properties "jumping in price." It treated 20 metros that raised their starter-home share as "bucking the trend," including high-cost California markets where a starter still listed well above the national typical price, and quoted Realtor.com senior economist Hannah Jones that "affordability is only part of the story" and that buyers' search is "increasingly shaped by the geography of opportunity, not simply a metro's headline price." Jones said keeping homeownership "within reach will require more entry-level homes at attainable price points," and the article said it "could be a while before the housing market gets back to 'normal.'"
The Right View
Fox Business framed the findings as proof that "affordable starter homes are still a reality in these major US cities," while noting they have become "increasingly scarce" relative to pre-pandemic inventory. It emphasized that condos have "taken on a larger role within the starter home segment relative to single-family homes" and listed Boise, Portland-Vancouver, Des Moines, San Jose, and Denver as the five largest share gains. It also stressed that "metros in the Sun Belt region haven't seen starter home inventory recover to pre-pandemic levels," with Columbia, Winston-Salem, Cape Coral-Fort Myers, and Augusta among the biggest declines, and Fresno, California, as "the only metro outside the South" in that top group of drops.
Our Take (balanced)
The left-leaning account's strongest argument is that a smaller national starter share and much higher prices leave first-time buyers dependent on "the geography of opportunity," a claim Jones tied to the scarcity of starter-dominant ZIP codes and that Business Insider illustrated by ranking even ultra-high-price metros as trend-buckers. The right-leaning account's strongest argument is that multiple large metros increased starter-home share and that condos now occupy a larger part of that segment, so entry-level listings "are still a reality" in named cities despite the national tightening and Sun Belt lag. The central unresolved tension is whether "starter" as a local relative price band — 80% of a metro median — still means affordable for first-time buyers when that band in some gaining markets far exceeds the national typical starter price.
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