Is Lansing Really the Worst City in Michigan for First-Time Buyers?

Is Lansing really the worst city in Michigan for first-time homebuyers?

That's what a new study says.

The personal finance website WalletHub has released its list of the "Best & Worst Cities for First-Time Home Buyers", and nine Michigan cities are included among the 300 in the survey.

How the Rankings Were Determined

Researchers looked at three main things: affordability; the city's real estate market; and the city's quality of life.

Regarding affordability, home prices and insurance costs were considered, along with the city's cost of living and tax rates among other things.

READ MORE: Michigan's Hottest Real Estate Markets Might Surprise You

To evaluate each city's real estate market, researchers compared the cost of buying vs. renting in each city, along with the average number of days homes stay on the market, the percentage of millennials who are currently homeowners, local foreclosure rates and other factors.

As far as quality of life goes, each city's school system was taken into account, along with crime rates, the job market, and typical weather — just to name a few of the metrics.

Michigan Shines in Affordability

As a whole, Michigan fared pretty well for affordability. All nine Michigan cities included in the survey rank in the more affordable half of cities in America. Only Ann Arbor cut it close (#147 of 300 in affordability). The rest landed in the most affordable third.

Quality of Life Drags Michigan Cities Down

Real estate scores were middle-of-the-pack for most Michigan cities, but most places in the Mitten State tanked regarding quality of life. Only Sterling Heights was found to have a quality of life rating in the upper half of American cities. Detroit, Lansing and Flint were among the 10 worst cities for quality of life overall!

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Curious to know how Michigan cities ranked? Take a look below!