Eye On Housing
A recent NAHB study* found that COVID-19 has impacted the housing preferences of 25% of home buyers. More specifically, the survey asked about location preferences both prior to COVID-19 and now: did buyers’ preferred location change as a result of the pandemic? Results show that a segment of home buyers have in fact shifted their preference towards the outlying suburbs… Read More ›
Continuing a long tradition to provide the most recent and accurate research on what home buyers want in their homes and communities, NAHB recently released What Home Buyers Really Want, 2021 Edition*. The study sheds light on the housing preferences of the typical home buyer, but also on how those preferences change over time, and how they may vary based… Read More ›
An earlier post revealed that 69% of buyers who were actively engaged in the process of finding a home in the final quarter of 2020 have spent upwards of 3 months searching for a home without success. For the first time in this series history, the number one reason long-time searchers haven’t made a home purchase is not because of… Read More ›
Of the 15% of American adults considering a future home purchase in the final quarter of 2020, 56% have moved beyond planning and are actively trying to find one to buy, up from the comparable 43% share a year earlier. This increase marks the fourth consecutive year-over-year rise in the share of prospective buyers who have become active buyers. Several… Read More ›
Record-low mortgage rates offset record-high home prices to keep housing affordability steady in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI). Though affordability rates held firm, regulatory and supply-side challenges threaten to aggravate affordability problems in the year ahead. In all, 58.3 percent of new and existing homes sold… Read More ›
For a rising share of home buyers, housing affordability is improving. According to the Housing Trends Report for the final quarter of 2020, 38% of buyers are able to afford half or more of the homes available for-sale in their markets. A year earlier, that share was 21%. The increase is an indication that historically low mortgage rates continue to… Read More ›
Buyers’ perceptions about the availability of homes in the market are showing significant improvement, according to the latest Housing Trends Report. In the final quarter of 2020, 37% of prospective buyers expect their search for a home to get easier in the months ahead, while 54% expect it will be harder or stay the same. A year earlier, far fewer… Read More ›
According to NAHB’s latest Housing Trends Report, 15% of adults were considering a home purchase in the fourth quarter of 2020, up from 11% a year earlier. Further analysis reveals a significant shift in interest for newly-built homes during this period among prospective buyers. In the final quarter of 2020, 41% of buyers were looking for a newly-built home, more than… Read More ›
According to NAHB’s latest Housing Trends Report (HTR), the share of Americans who are considering the purchase of a home in the next 12 months was 15% in the fourth quarter of 2020, four percentage points higher than a year earlier and the largest year-over-year gain in the 3+year history of this series. The gain shows the COVID-19 pandemic continues… Read More ›
Record-low mortgage rates were not enough to offset inventory shortages and rising home prices as housing affordability continued to decline in the third quarter of 2020, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI). In all, 58.3 percent of new and existing homes sold between the beginning of July and end of September were… Read More ›