Eye On Housing
Author Archives
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.
-
Most Likely (Unlikely) Features in a New Single-Family Home in 2020
Home builders make a lot of decisions about how to run their businesses every day. Among their most critical determinations is what features to include in the homes they build. Experience, region, trends, target audience, and many other factors play a role in a decision that directly affects their bottom line. In order to provide our members with actionable research,… Read More ›
-
Top Features First-Time Home Buyers Want
After rising for six consecutive years (2010 to 2015), the average home size in the US has fallen steadily for the past four years (2016 to 2019). In fact, estimates indicate the average home built in 2019 was the smallest since 2011. This trend is evidence that builders are working to meet the demand for smaller homes; that they are… Read More ›
-
Los Angeles Takes Top Spot as Nation’s Least Affordable Housing Market
San Francisco, which has been the nation’s least affordable major housing market for the past two years, was supplanted by Los Angeles in the fourth quarter of 2019, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI). In all, 63.2 percent of new and existing homes sold between the beginning of October and end of… Read More ›
-
Unaffordable Prices Hold Back Prospective Home Buyers
As revealed in a previous post, 60% of buyers actively searching for a home to buy in the final quarter of 2019 have been looking – unsuccessfully – for at least three months. Why is it taking these buyers that long to pull the trigger? Once again, the most common reason is they can’t find a home at a price… Read More ›
-
Time Spent Searching for a Home is Rising
Of the 11% of American adults considering a home purchase in the final quarter of 2019, only 43% reported being actively engaged in the process to find and buy a home. A year earlier, the comparable share of active buyers was a much stronger 54%. This finding suggests that mortgage interest rates steadily below 4.0% in recent months have not… Read More ›
-
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 ›
-
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 ›
-
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 ›
-
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 ›
-
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 ›