To call Starfield a large, open-world sandbox game would be doing the title a disservice. After all, you can explore a galaxy’s worth of worlds in this game (gas giants notwithstanding). Not only can you also build highly customizable outposts on these celestial bodies, but the ship you use to get around is just as customizable.
You can outfit your ships in Starfield to make them look as spartan or stylish as you wish and turn them into your home away from home. But what good is a home away from home if you don’t even have a home to begin with? Yes, you can purchase or earn houses as you explore Starfield. However, like many things in the game, the process for acquiring these homes isn’t always sufficiently detailed. So, we’ve decided to help.
The Lodge
Early in Starfield, players join Constellation and gain access to their first “house:” the Lodge. Technically this is less of a house and more of a communal base of operations, but at least you get a room of your own. This location gives gamers access to a bed, every type of crafting table, and an infinitely-sized storage locker.
To acquire a room in the Lodge, simply follow the main story campaign until you reach the Lodge. Enter, watch a cutscene unfold, and talk to Noelle. She’ll show you around and give you access to your designated sleeping quarters. Unlike other houses in Starfield, you can fast travel to it at any time from the New Atlantis surface map. Plus, room and board are complimentary, which is a boon starting out since you probably won’t have many credits to spare.
The Well Apartment
The Well is the underbelly of New Atlantis. The Well isn’t seedy or anything, but it doesn’t have the best reputation, if only because people who can’t afford to live topside tend to live in the Well. That could include you.
The Well Apartment is a simple, two-room apartment that will likely serve as most players’ first bonafide home. It’s not much, but like almost everything else in Starfield, it’s yours to customize. However, acquiring this apartment isn’t straightforward. For starters, you need to become a citizen of the United Colonies. To do that, you have to complete “Friends Like These,” which is the fifth mission in the United Colonies faction quest chain.
Once the formalities are done, head over to Aphelion Reality, which is right across from the MAST Tower in the MAST District. Talk to Zora Sangweni, and purchase this apartment for 30,000 credits. To find your new apartment, just head into the Well via one of New Atlantis’ many elevators and then towards the nearby restaurant, Jake’s. Your home is above that establishment.
Mercury Tower Penthouse
New Atlantis and the United Colonies might be mired in bureaucracy, but if you dig in your heels and serve on the front lines, this interplanetary government will reward you handsomely. Well, if you’re the main character, that is.
The Mercury Tower Penthouse is one of the best houses in Starfield. Not only is the apartment fancy, but it has plenty of room to fit all your stuff and customize. Plus, this location is absolutely free…sort of. You can’t purchase the Mercury Tower Penthouse from a real estate agent. Instead, you have to earn it by being an upstanding member of the United Colonies Vanguard. After you complete all of the faction’s associated quests, the United Colonies will thank you for your service with penthouse keys. The quest chain might be long and arduous, but the reward is well worth it.
Parent’s House
As its name suggests, this house doesn’t belong to you but rather your character’s parents. However, you are still given the run of the place (within reason), so if you need an extra bed, you can have one.
You can only access your characters’ Parent’s House if you picked the “Kid Stuff” trait during character creation. As an added bonus, you might run into these parental NPCs when you visit certain planets, and they might even give you unique gifts. However, you will have to send them 2% of your credits every in-game week, which is a fair tradeoff.
To find this house, visit Pioneer Tower, which is located in the Residential District of New Atlantis, just to the right of the tram exit. Take the elevator up to “Family Apartments,” and you can drop in on your protagonist’s parents.
Sleep Crate
Depending on which websites you visit, you might have come across a real-life story or video about someone who refurbished a large shipping crate into a house. Apparently, someone had the same idea in Starfield.
The Sleep Crate, as its name suggests, is a large industrial container that was originally designed for hauling cargo that has been turned into a spartan one-room apartment. Calling the Sleep Crate a home would be like calling a kid’s tricycle a Harley Davidson, but at least it has a bed for you to rest up. Plus, at 6,500 credits, the Sleep Crate is the cheapest house in Starfield (the ones you get for free notwithstanding), and it is one of the few places you can stash the drug Aurora, which is illegal in most settled cities.
To acquire a Sleep Crate, talk to the receptionist, Izna, in Neon. From the Spacepart, head into Ebbside, specifically the entrance in the alley between Enhance! and the Volii Hotel. You should find Izna in the Sleep Crate booth.
Stretch Apartment
Just as New Atlantis is the capital of the United Colonies, Akila City is the capital of the Freestar Collective. Like New Atlantis, Akila City is home to many districts, not all of them as well off as the others. Few are as rough and tumble as The Stretch, but you know what they say: The harsher the district, the cheaper the properties.
The Stretch Apartment is a rustic, one-room apartment, but that descriptor doesn’t do it justice. This “room” is split up via dividers, which gives you way more room to work with than some other Starfield houses. To purchase this starter home, talk to the real estate agent Ngodup Tate. You can find him outside the lucrative Core Manor, which is behind The Rock. Fork over 45,000 credits, and he will hand you the keys to your new apartment.
As for where you can find this Stretch house, look for Sinclaire’s Books, which is in or around Midtown or the Stretch. The Stretch Apartment is the building to the left of the bookstore.
Core Manor
While Akila City is more rustic (and possibly inspired by shows such as Firefly) than Starfield’s other main cities, it still has several upscale neighborhoods. And of course, the settlement’s most expensive building is located there.
Core Manor is one of Starfield’s more sizable homes, or at least it is more sizable than it looks. As it carries some historic significance within the Freestar Collective, Core Manor doesn’t come cheap. To buy this house, you need 75,000 credits. As with the Stretch Apartment, hand over your cash to Ngodup Tate, and he’ll hand over the deed to Core Manor. Since he’s standing outside of your new home, you don’t need to go searching for it; just take a few steps to your left and walk in the door.
Dream Home
Buying a house in the real world isn’t as fantastic as it is in video games. Instead of actually buying a house, you take out a mortgage and keep paying it off throughout your life. While you live in the house, you don’t actually own it; the bank does. Well, you can simulate that feeling in Starfield.
If you pick the “Dream Home” trait, you essentially start the game with possibly the largest player house available. This figurative and literal dream house is located on the planet of Nesoi, which is housed in the Olympus system. To sweeten the deal, this gargantuan property comes with an equally impressive amount of real estate. It’s a truly impressive housing option.
However, to actually access the house, you have to pay off a mortgage of 125,000 credits, starting with a weekly 500 credit payment. If that sounds reasonable to you, pick the “Dream Home” trait and follow the associated quest that is acquired after you join Constellation. Once the mortgage is done and dusted, the Dream Home is yours for good.
The Sky Suite
Traditional logic dictates that the more you pay for a house, the bigger and fancier it is. However, that is rarely the case, and if you aren’t careful, you can find yourself scammed into purchasing a home that isn’t worth the money. In Starfield, the Sky Suite fills that niche.
The Sky Suite, which is located in Neon, is probably the worst house you can buy in the game. Sure, the place looks fancy, but it’s just an overpriced studio apartment with a balcony that overlooks Neon. That might not sound bad given Neon’s other housing offerings, but the person selling the Sky Suite is asking for 235,000 credits, which makes it the most expensive house in the game, and the amount of space provided is not worth the investment.
Still, if you want to own the Sky Suite, visit the Trade Tower, which is located in Neon’s Bayu Plaza. Talk to the bartender, Boone, and fork over the money. He’ll give you the keys to your new, overpriced apartment.