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Rose Quint is Assistant Vice President for Survey Research. Ms. Quint holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Economics/International Business from Old Dominion University as well as a Master’s degree in Economics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Her responsibilities include planning and conducting industry surveys, specifically in the areas of builder sentiment, remodeling, housing affordability, and AD&C financing issues. Ms. Quint is also responsible for special research projects, such as studies on builders’ profitability, consumer preferences, construction costs, and membership census. She joined NAHB in 1999.
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Affordability Expectations Show No Improvement among Home Buyers
While home buyers may have slightly more optimistic expectations about future housing availability (see earlier post), there is no improvement in their outlook for affordability. In the fourth quarter of 2019, 79% say they can afford fewer than half the homes available in their markets, which is higher than the 76% with that opinion a year earlier. This marks the… Read More ›
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Improved Expectations of Housing Availability among Home Buyers
In the final quarter of 2019, home buyers are less likely (65%) to think housing availability will get harder (or stay the same) than in the final quarter of 2018 (72%). Put another way, fewer home buyers expect housing availability to worsen. On the contrary, the share of optimistic buyers expecting an easier home search process in the months ahead… Read More ›
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Share of First-Time Home Buyers Rises Significantly in the Final Quarter of 2019
According to NAHB’s latest Housing Trends Report, the share of adults who are considering purchasing a home in the next 12 months fell to 11% in the final quarter of 2019, down from 13% a year earlier. This decline marks the fifth consecutive year-over-year drop in the share of American adults planning to buy a home in the year ahead,… Read More ›
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Unaffordable Prices Hold Back Prospective Home Buyers
As revealed in a previous post, 58% of buyers actively searching for a home to buy in the third quarter of 2019 have been looking – unsuccessfully – for at least three months. Why is it taking these buyers that long to pull the trigger? The most important reason is they can’t find a home at a price they can… Read More ›
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Fewer than Half of Prospective Buyers Are Actively Looking for a Home
An NAHB poll* of American adults in the third quarter of 2019 revealed that 12% are planning a home purchase in the next 12 months. Of that group, 44% are already actively engaged in the process of finding a home to buy, a smaller share than a year earlier when 47% of prospective buyers were engaged in the search process. … Read More ›
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Affordability Expectations Among Most Home Buyers Remain Poor
Despite help from the lowest mortgage rates in three years, an NAHB poll* conducted in the third quarter of 2019 shows that a strong majority of prospective home buyers continue to have poor expectations about being able to afford the homes for-sale in their markets. In fact, 80% say they can afford fewer than half the homes currently available where… Read More ›
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A Minority of Home Buyers Expect House Search to Get Easier Soon
Only 21% of prospective home buyers (people planning a home purchase) expect that finding the right home to buy will get easier in the months ahead, according to NAHB’s Housing Trends Report for the third quarter 2019. That share is slightly better than the 19% who had the same expectation a year earlier. On the other hand, a majority of… Read More ›
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Only 12% of Adults Plan to Buy Home in Next 12 Months
Only 12% of adults are considering the purchase of a home within the next 12 months, according to NAHB’s Housing Trends Report for the third quarter of 2019. This share of ‘prospective home buyers’ is essentially unchanged from where it stood a year earlier, at 13%. For the majority of these buyers (60%), this will be their first time buying… Read More ›
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Lower Mortgage Rates Push Housing Affordability to Highest Level in Three Years
With mortgage rates at a three-year low and a healthy job market, housing affordability rose to its highest level in three years in the third quarter of 2019, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI). In all, 63.6 percent of new and existing homes sold between the beginning of July and end of… Read More ›
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Gains for Top Builder Share
The top 20 builders produced 29.0% of all the homes constructed in the country in 2018, according to data from BUILDER magazine. That share is a notable gain from 2017, when the largest 20 builders were responsible for 26.8% of all completions. Historical data shows a rising trend in the market share of the top 20 builders[1]. In 2000, these… Read More ›