In the years immediately following the pandemic, the market for starter homes in the U.S was rough. In 2022, the number of homes that were accessible to first-time buyers reached its lowest point in recent memory.The starter home crunch has eased a bit since then, according to a new report out from Realtor.com. Just how much it eased, though, all depends on location.Someone looking to buy a starter home in the southern U.S., will have a lot more choices than in the rest of the country. “Builders in Texas, Florida, and the Carolinas really responded to demand during the boom years of the pandemic, and that supply has come to market,” said economist Hannah Jones, author of that fresh Realtor.com report.In the South, the supply of starter homes — which the report defined as costing $350,000 or less — has grown substantially since 2022. “[Builders were] really taking advantage of the more permissive zoning laws and regulations in the South,” Jones said.Meanwhile in the Northeast, the starter home market is getting worse. That area of the country is already very densely built — as anyone who’s traveled through north Jersey can tell you. That density makes new construction harder. “There's just not as much space for the sprawl. You also run into the ocean,” Jones said.One reason new construction is so important is more would-be sellers are clinging to their existing homes and low mortgage rates. “Years ago, the average time a person would stay in their house would be seven, 10, 12 years. We're seeing people stay in their houses for 20 years now,” said Sheryl Merritt, a real estate broker in Raleigh, North Carolina. Despite the increased inventory, the Realtor.com report said sales of starter homes are down 7.2% so far this year. Buyers have to factor in the high cost of everything right now, said Zillow senior economist Orphe Divounguy.“It's very difficult for people to go out and commit to a new purchase when there's so much uncertainty about how far their incomes will go,” he said.Some people are abandoning the idea of a starter home all together.Realtor.com’s Hannah Jones said instead, they want to buy their forever home and just be done with the whole thing.