How much does a house cost in Skyrim? Can I get one for free?

You can buy several houses in Skyrim:

1. Whiterun*, 5000 septims. After completing the Bleak Falls Barrow quest.
2. **Riften****, 5000 or 8000 septims. After performing several quests in Riften.
3. **Markarth****, 8000. After completing either the Main Quest or Lvl 20, Red Eagle Redoubt and some miscellaneous quests.
4. **Windhelm****, 8000 or 12000 septims. Available after completing the Stormcloak quests. Also becomes available after completion of the Imperial Army quest line. Available after completing the quest Blood on the Ice
5. **Solitude****, 25,000 septims. Available after completing a miscellaneous quest (named Elisif's Tribute) for the Jarl.
6. Dawnstar*, free. Available after completing the Dark Brotherhood quest Hail Sithis! The Master Bedroom upgrade costs 3000 gold, purchased from Delvin Mallory, as part of a total 19,000 gold upgrade of the sanctuary.
7. Dawnstar*, 5000 septims. Available after installing Hearthfire, doing the completion Waking Nightmares, and doing the completion of Kill the Giant.
8. Markarth, free. Available after completion of The House of Horrors.
9. Winterhold, free. Available upon enrolling in the College of Winterhold.
10. **Winterhold*****, free. Available upon completing the The Eye of Magnus.
11. Morthal*, 5000 septims. Availible after installing Hearthfire, and completing Laid to Rest.
12. Falkreath*, 5000 septims. Available after installing Hearthfire, completing Black Briar Mead, and Kill the Bandit Leader.

*House can be upgraded to have an Alchemy Lab
**House can be upgraded to have an Alchemy Lab and an Arcane Enchanter
***House has Alchemy Lab and Arcane Enchanter ****Houses that need Hearthfire have land plot where you can create you're own house in the land by first planning it using the drafting table and creating it in the workbench. Interior workbenches are for the inside of homes.

The house listings above is great but here is the trick to get your houses for free.

You do actually need the money to buy the house but all can be bought for no gold out of pocket. When you're able to buy your house, save your game in front of the person. Now look for a chest/cupboard/dresser/container close to you. Click on buy the house then click confirm. Here's where the magic happens.

Right after you confirm buying, exit out of the chat and quickly run to the container. "Sprint shout" is sometimes needed to achieve this since you only have around 6 second to achieve this. Run to container open and drop ALL your GOLD in container, then exit container. If you pulled it off after exiting the container the chat should have now timed out and you received your House Key.

Now just go back to the container and get all your Gold back. This does not trigger stealing. You can't get your house furnishings for free but hey FREE HOUSES.