Interest for new home construction weakened in the fourth quarter of 2022, driven by high mortgage rates and elevated new home prices. The latest Housing Trends Report (HTR) shows that the share of prospective buyers looking to buy new construction dropped to 20% in the final quarter of 2022, down from 27% a quarter earlier.
The latest decline in interest for new homes happened nationwide. From the third to the final quarter of 2022, the share of prospective buyers looking to purchase a new home fell in all four regions, most prominently in the West (31% to 21%), but also in the Northeast (27% to 20%), Midwest (18% to 15%), and South (26% to 20%).
* Results come from the Housing Trends Report (HTR) – a research product created by the NAHB Economics team with the goal of measuring prospective home buyers’ perceptions about the availability and affordability of homes for-sale in their markets. The HTR is produced quarterly to track changes in buyers’ perceptions over time. All data are derived from national polls of representative samples of American adults conducted for NAHB by Morning Consult. Results are seasonally adjusted. A description of the poll’s methodology and sample characteristics can be found here. This is the second in a series of six posts highlighting results for the 4th quarter of 2022. See previous post on plans to buy.
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