Pickerington ranked No. 7 suburb for 1st-time buyers
Website examined 580 cities in nation
The central Ohio city of Pickerington is the seventh best suburb in the nation for first-time home buyers, according to a study by Today’s Homeowner website.
The site came up with its list by quantifying four things in 580 suburbs across the country: home affordability; the number of homes on the market; job opportunities; and “livability,” which includes entertainment and restaurant opportunities. Pickerington fared especially well — #4 in the nation — on livability. The best suburb in the nation for first-time buyers, according to the study, is the Baltimore suburb of Bel Air, Maryland, followed by the Charlotte, North Carolina, suburb of Fort Mill.
Auburn, Indiana, outside Fort Wayne, came in #3, the first of many Midwestern suburbs to fare well on the ranking. Three Fort Wayne suburbs appeared in the Top 20, as did three suburbs of Lincoln, Nebraska, and Indianapolis. Two other central Ohio cities landed in the Top 100: Delaware (#36) and New Albany (#85). Also on the list: the Cincinnati suburb of Mason, at #57; and the Toledo suburb of Perrysburg, at #73.
“Perhaps not surprisingly, Southern and Midwestern suburbs scored higher in our rankings for first-time homebuyers,” according to the study. “Most of the top 100 suburbs are outside of upand-coming urban areas that offer plenty of dining and entertainment options but still have affordable homes for sale.”
While Pickerington is more affordable than many central Ohio suburbs, its median sales price so far this year of $404,800 remains nearly $100,000 higher than central Ohio as a whole, according to Columbus Realtors data.
Pickerington is the latest of several central Ohio cities to appear on national real-estate rankings in recent years. In August, Gahanna was named the hottest housing market in the nation by Realtor.com.
jweiker@dispatch.com