The starter home is disappearing across America. These cities still have them

Even with stubborn market forces working against them, savvy first-time home buyers are figuring out ways to get a foot in the door – and into their first home. Smaller, more affordable starter homes are scarcer these days and cost more too, particularly compared to the pre-pandemic real estate days. According to a new report from Realtor.com, the starter home price threshold swelled from $260,000 to $340,000 between 2019 and 2026, boxing budget-conscious first-time buyers in. The real estate resource defines starter homes as homes priced at or below 80% of the local median list price. In 2026, starter homes made up 36.2% of the market in the 100 largest U.S. metro areas, down from 38.1% in 2019. The lack of starter home inventory is most pronounced in the Southeast and the Sunbelt, shrinking the most in Columbia, South Carolina and Winston-Salem, North Carolina since 2019. With a shrinking pool of options when it comes to affordable single-family homes, condos and townhomes are emerging as a compelling alternative. Homes in those categories now make up 27% of the starter home market. Compare that to 2019, when condos and townhomes only made up 18% of starter home inventory, next …