10 Places Where Condos Offer Homebuyers More Bang for the Buck

If today’s soaring home prices have you down, don’t fret: Adjusting your expectations just a bit can help you land a home you love.

Home shoppers who purchase a condo or townhome generally pay prices that are 5% to 7% below the price of a single-family home, according to Realtor.com. But in some cases, the savings can be much greater than that.

Recently, the staff at Realtor.com pored over data to find the cities where the discount for buying a condo or townhome is greatest compared to what you would pay for a single-family home.

Following are several cities where you can really save a bundle by purchasing a condo, townhome or row home rather than a single-family home.

1. Delray Beach, Florida

This city’s median list price for:

• Single-family homes: $1,199,000
• Condominiums: $250,000 (79.1% discount)

A short drive south of pricey Palm Beach, Delray Beach has grown from a former farming village into a city of 70,000 people.

Atlantic Avenue is the longest main street in Florida and stretches through the city to the public beach. Delray Beach is known for its bars, restaurants, boutiques and art galleries.

2. Reno, Nevada

This city’s median list price for:

• Single-family homes: $790,975
• Condominiums: $344,500 (56.4% discount)

Hundreds of people — 540 to be exact — played checkers at the exact same time in Reno in February 2014. That gave the Nevada city a Guinness World Record.

3. Galveston, Texas

This city’s median list price for:

• Single-family homes: $522,500
• Condominiums: $239,875 (54.1% discount)

History really counts in Galveston. The Texas city is home to the second-largest historic preservation group in the U.S. and has four historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places:

• Strand National Historic Landmark District
• East End Historic District
• Silk Stocking District
• Central Business District

The rest of the top 10

Here are the rest of the top 10 cities where the discount for buying a condo or townhome is greatest compared with what you would pay for a single-family home.

• Myrtle Beach, South Carolina: single-family home list price, $444,198; condominiums, $229,225; discount: 48.4%
• St. George, Utah: single-family home list price, $650,000; condominiums, $378,750; discount, 41.7%
• Baton Rouge, Louisiana: single-family home list price, $325,000; condominiums, $190,475; discount, 41.4%
• Phoenix: single-family home list price, $581,750; condominiums, $349,450; discount: 39.9%
• Denver: single-family home list price, $750,000; condominiums, $452,500; discount: 39.7%
• Portland, Oregon: single-family home list price, $650,000; condominiums, $392,449; discount: 39.6%
• Raleigh, North Carolina: single-family home list price, $599,675; condominiums: $365,625; discount, 39%

Are you looking for a home? Stop by the Money Talks News Solutions Center and search for the best mortgage rate.