PITTSBURGH – As real estate prices and interest rates shot up in recent years,the prospect of homeownership moved further for many Americans, especially young adults in large metro areas where themedian home price can run well over half-a-million dollars.

But not in Pittsburgh, where Isaac Ray, 26, and Liam Weaver, 30, bought their first home for $163,000. After dropping $10,000 to rehab the bathroom and decrepit kitchen cabinets, they settled into their three-bedroom, one-bath ranch in the West End before their October wedding.

“A lot of people think about buying a house, and it just seems it’s something you probably can’t do,” Weaver said of the cost. But it’s well within reach here on what he earns managing a grocery store deli counter and Ray as a professional ballet dancer. And it’s

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