Brown And White Concrete House Under Blue Sky During Daytime — Is your city on the list? (Unsplash)

While the housing market is cooling off across the country, finding an affordable home is still a major challenge with skyrocketing rates and low inventory. However, according to Stessa, several Alabama metro areas including Birmingham-Hoover and Huntsville ranked among affordable cities with the most home inventory. Read on to find out more.

Soaring prices, low supply

According to Stessa, there are several encouraging signs for home buyers in recent months:

Mortgage applications are down (fewer buyers are competing in the market)
Homes are spending more time on the market
Sellers are more inclined to lower home prices
Buyers are walking away from deals more often

However, inflation has raised the cost of homes, as high demand and low supply have driven prices to record levels.

What do you do if you’re looking for an affordable home AND an area with lots of inventory? Alabama has several metros, large and small, that have the best of both worlds.

Affordable large metros in Alabama

Downtown Birmingham — The Magic City. (Jacob Blankenship / Bham Now)

Drum roll please… in the study, Birmingham-Hoover ranked #6 overall in the country for most home inventory at an affordable cost of living. Let’s dive into the data:

Active listings per 10K existing homes: 48.9
Cost of living (compared to average): -7.4%
Median sale price: $277,144
Percentage of listings with a price cut: 14.7%
Average days on market: 35

Not bad, considering the Birmingham-Hoover metro beat out major metros such as Raleigh-Cary, North Carolina; San Antonio-New Braunfels, Texas; Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, Georgia and more.