Skyrim houses: every player home you can own

The five city homes

Each of the original hold capitals has one house for sale from the jarl's steward, and buying it is usually the last step before being named Thane of that hold. Furnishing is bought separately, room by room, and each hold's housecarl moves in once you are Thane.

• Breezehome in Whiterun is the cheapest and the first most players get. It has no enchanting table, but the alchemy lab option and its position beside Warmaiden's make it a good early base. See how to buy a house in Whiterun.
• Honeyside in Riften is built into the city wall with a private dock on the lake, so you can leave without passing the gate. It can hold both an enchanting table and an alchemy lab.
• Vlindrel Hall in Markarth is a Dwemer-built stone home high on the cliffs.
• Hjerim in Windhelm is the largest city home, but it is the scene of the Blood on the Ice murders and cannot be bought until that quest is finished.
• Proudspire Manor in Solitude is the most expensive at 25,000 gold and comes with three floors and a Stone of Barenziah in the master bedroom.

Hearthfire homesteads

With Hearthfire you can buy a plot of land for 5,000 gold in three holds that do not otherwise sell a house: Falkreath Hold, Hjaalmarch and the Pale. You then build the home yourself at a drafting table using sawn logs, quarried stone, clay and iron. A finished homestead can have an enchanting tower, a greenhouse, an alchemy lab, a library, a trophy room and a stable, plus a garden and an animal pen outside. It is the only kind of house where a spouse and adopted children can live together with a steward and a bard. The Hearthfire houses page walks through each plot and the build order.

Severin Manor on Solstheim

Severin Manor in Raven Rock is the reward for the Dragonborn quest Served Cold, in which you expose the plot against Councillor Morvayn. It is granted rather than sold, comes fully furnished in the Dunmer style, and has every crafting station, including a forge, enchanter and alchemy lab, under one roof. That makes it the best free home in the game.

Creation Club homes in the Anniversary Edition

The Anniversary Edition adds nine homes of very different styles. Tundra Homestead is a cottage just east of Whiterun bought from the steward for 7,500 gold and is the easiest to get. Myrwatch is a mage's tower in the marsh east of Morthal with a gallery for displaying items. Hendraheim is a Nordic hall in the Reach mountains claimed by beating a champion, and Bloodchill Manor inside Bloodchill Cavern is a vampire's dinner party you have to survive. Gallows Hall is a necromancer's retreat on Mara's Eye Pond, Goldenhills Plantation is a working farm you manage, Shadowfoot Sanctum is a thief's cellar under Riften, Nchuanthumz is a Dwemer home reached through Frostroot Cave, and Dead Man's Dread is a pirate ship moored at Blackbone Isle.

Which house should you buy first?

For a first playthrough, Breezehome wins on price and position: Whiterun is central, the quest to unlock it is part of the main story, and the carriage outside the gate reaches every capital. If you have Hearthfire, Lakeview Manor is only a short walk from Riverwood and Falkreath and gives you far more storage and crafting for the same 5,000 gold, though the materials cost extra. Mages should look at Honeyside or a Hearthfire enchanter's tower, since Breezehome never gets an enchanting table.