Daily Real Estate News  |  September 26, 2008  |   Most Affordable Cities for Owning a Home
The cost of buying and maintaining a home is pretty reasonable if you live in certain Midwestern or Southern cities, according to Forbes magazine's new report.

To determine America's least expensive places to own a home, Forbes used data from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2008 American Community Survey, released Tuesday.

The survey reported the 2007 median monthly housing costs in the country's metro areas with a population over 65,000. Housing costs include monthly mortgage payments, real estate taxes, various insurances, utilities, fuels, mobile home costs and condominium fees.

Here are the top-10 cheapest cities to own a home (for more details on each location, watch the Forbes slideshow):

1. Cleveland: $978 a month
2. Columbus, Ohio: $1,060 a month
3. Pittsburgh: $1,187 a month
4. San Antonio, Texas: $1,216 a month
5. Indianapolis: $1,232 a month
6. Nashville: $1,256 a month
7. New Orleans: $1,296 a month
8. St. Louis: $1,299 a month
9. Charlotte, N.C.: $1,336 a month
10. Cincinnati: $1,353 a month

Source: Forbes, Lauren Sherman (09/23/2008)