Space Command is coming to Huntsville. What might that mean for first-time homebuyers

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Space Command is moving to Huntsville, potentially bringing thousands of jobs with it. While Huntsville has been a more affordable market than other growing cities, what’s it been like for those looking for their first home? 

When Sasha Irby first came to Huntsville for college, the market was very different than it is today. Her first apartment only cost her $400 a month. 

“I assumed that once I was ready to make the transition from apartment living to actually getting my first home that it would be a piece of cake,” Irby said.

Irby started looking for that first home shortly after she started her family. She grew up in a house herself and wanted the backyard and stability that comes with it for her own kid. She began the search with small starter homes in safe neighborhoods in 2017. 

“I had all these hopes and dreams for what I thought my future would look like,” Irby said. “And suddenly, I was faced with, ‘Oh my goodness, I might not even be able to move my family out of a one-bedroom apartment.’”

Irby and her spouse explored government programs like Section 8 vouchers, a subsidy for low-income renters, before eventually finding a path to homeownership through Habitat for Humanity. She remembered the day they took their toddler to the site of what would become their house and watched him run across the recently finished foundation. 

“It felt like we were on the precipice of the rest of our lives,” Irby said. “Because up until this point, home ownership still felt like this distant dream. But then when we saw that foundation being poured, you can literally feel the foundation starting to stabilize beneath your feet.” 

Today, Irby serves on the Habitat for Humanity’s advisory panel helping others in Huntsville get homes too. 

“What we know is, statistically, a large problem here in North Alabama is that people are being priced out of the dream of home ownership,” Irby said.

Matt Curtis, of Matt Curtis Real Estate in Huntsville, largely agreed.

“It used to be you could get a home for around $170,000 to $180,000 in one of the best school districts in town,” Curtis said. “Now, that home will cost you $300,000 to $350,000.”

Curtis said that while Huntsville has managed to remain affordable in comparison to other large cities across the country, prices have still gone up since the pandemic leaving first-time buyers behind. Meanwhile, with Space Command coming to Huntsville, the city is about to receive several thousand new jobs. 

“Once this hits, it won’t take much for us to quickly go into a seller’s market, possibly very similar to what you saw during the COVID market where you saw double-digit appreciation,” Curtis said. 

Curtis recommends home ownership as the best path to sustainable, affordable housing. 

But the National Association of Realtors reported last year that the country hit a record low for first time homebuyers at 24%. It also hit a record high for the age of first-time homebuyers at 38 years old. Far fewer members of Gen Z are in a position to buy a home compared to Baby Boomers at the same age. 

That’s something Jeremy Foulks, executive director for the Habitat for Humanity of the River Valley, is concerned about. 

“I think what you’re seeing is in the Huntsville market about 46% of the population in our community is under a housing burden regarding housing costs,” Foulks said.

A burden means more than 30% of household income is eaten up by housing alone. And while, as he put it, developers in the city are “building like crazy,” Foulks said there isn’t much investment in starter homes for low and even middle-income people. 

“You’re talking about your CNA’s. You’re talking about employees that work in restaurants,” Foulks said. “You’re talking about your nurses and teachers, police officers, firemen.” 

Foulks says Habitat has tracked most home prices doubling over the last five years. Rent has been rising too, although the word he uses is “skyrocketing.” 

“We actually had a woman with a family who came to us, I think it was about two years ago,” Foulks said. “Her rent was going from $800 a month to $1,600 a month for a one bedroom apartment that she shared with her children.”

Foulks, like many in Huntsville, is excited to see Space Command moving to the city. But he hoped there’s enough homes to support the workers who come and the people who live there today — not just for those on the higher end of the income scale.