A home gives you safe storage, crafting stations, a bed for the Well Rested bonus, and (with Hearthfire) a family. There are 5 city houses to buy and 3 homesteads to build.
🏙️ City Houses
You usually must become Thane of a hold (help its Jarl and the locals) before you can buy the house from the steward.
| House | City | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breezehome | Whiterun | ~5,000 | Cheapest; available early after Dragon Rising |
| Honeyside | Riften | ~8,000 | Has a back porch and garden on the lake |
| Vlindrel Hall | Markarth | ~8,000 | Carved into the Dwemer stone city |
| Hjerim | Windhelm | ~12,000 | Buying it before "Blood on the Ice" starts that quest on first entry |
| Proudspire Manor | Solitude | ~25,000 | The grandest; the capital's finest home |
🏡 Hearthfire Homesteads
The Hearthfire DLC lets you build your own house from scratch. Buy the plot (~5,000 gold) from the local Jarl's steward, then use the drafting table and carpenter's workbench.
| Homestead | Hold | How to unlock the land |
|---|---|---|
| Lakeview Manor | Falkreath | Do a favour for the Jarl of Falkreath |
| Windstad Manor | Hjaalmarch (Morthal) | Do a favour for the Jarl of Morthal |
| Heljarchen Hall | The Pale (Dawnstar) | Do a favour for the Jarl of Dawnstar |
Building Materials
- Sawn Logs — buy from any lumber mill (or chop wood and use the mill).
- Stone & Clay — mine on your own property (free, unlimited nodes on-site).
- Iron Fittings, Nails, Hinges, Locks — forge them from iron ingots at the anvil on your plot or any other forge (Locks also take a corundum ingot).
- Straw, Glass, Goat Horns — for furnishings; buy from general goods traders.
Wings & Family
Start with the Small House, then replace the entrance with a Main Hall and add up to three wings: an Enchanter's Tower, Alchemy Laboratory, Greenhouse, Armory, Kitchen, Storage Room or Bedrooms. Outside you can build a garden, apiary, fish hatchery, grain mill and stable. Add a child's bedroom and you can adopt up to two children from Honorhall Orphanage or the streets of Skyrim.
Hire a steward (a follower or hireling) to auto-supply building materials, buy animals and guard the homestead. Marry someone via the Amulet of Mara and they can live there too.
Sources
Checked against UESP and the Elder Scrolls Fandom wiki, and re-checked on 1 October 2026 against EliteGuias, Vandal and Eurogamer.es, which agree on the five city houses and their prices, the 5,000-gold homestead deeds and the iron-ingot materials made at a forge. On Hjerim they split: EliteGuias says it can only be bought after "Blood on the Ice", while the two wikis say buying it earlier starts that quest on your first visit.