Amazing Homeownership Stats
When it comes to buying a home, you might be a first-time homebuyer or a return buyer. In both cases, knowing what is going on in the market is going to help you make a more informed decision about your home purchase since it will give you a vital 'snapshot' of where mortgages are currently.
Of course, there's such a thing as too much information. The modern housing sector is built on a near-constant flow of statistics and information, almost in real time, which can overwhelm even experienced homebuyers. The solution is simple: Focus on the information that matters most.
With that in mind, we will look at information on where the housing market stands from the National Association of Realtors® (NAR). We'll discuss who's buying, their relative levels of satisfaction with the homebuying process, and much more. So, let's dive in!
Who is buying houses?
The term 'homebuyer' is a general one that breaks down into a number of sub-groups. Age, family dynamics and marital status can all form separate puzzle pieces that collectively add up to a picture of the homebuying experience. It's important to note that, while many statistics remained in the general neighborhood of what they were for the previous year, the percentage of first-time homebuyers dropped by a significant amount in this report. Conversely, the number of veterans seeking homeownership trended higher, though fewer of them were active-duty veterans.
- First-time buyers made up 26% of all homebuyers, a decrease from last year's 34%.
- The typical first-time buyer was 36 years old this year, while the typical repeat-buyer age rose to 59 years old.
- 14% of homebuyers purchased a multi-generational home, to take care of aging parents, because of children over the age of 18 moving back home and for cost-saving.
- 22% of recent homebuyers were veterans and 1% were active-duty service members.
Home searches in the digital age
The rise in popularity of digital tools and virtual home walkthroughs has had an increasing impact on how potential homebuyers shop for their prospective homes. The ease of being able to qualify a home by street level, price, and floor plan — all before ever stepping foot in the home — cannot be overstated. This has had the effect of raising the bar for the overall homebuying experience.
- For 47% of recent buyers, the first step that they took in the homebuying process was to look online at properties for sale, while 18% of buyers first contacted a real estate agent.
- Buyers typically searched for 10 weeks, looked at a median of 5 homes and viewed 4 of these homes only online.
- Nearly all buyers used online tools in the search process at 96%.
- 91% of recent buyers were at least somewhat satisfied with their homebuying experience.
The role of real estate agents
Even with the digital assets we mentioned above, the role that real estate agents play in the overall homebuying process remains a foundational one. It's their blend of marketplace IQ, industry expertise and property insight that has shepherded many an inexperienced homebuyer to find, and acquire, the home of their dreams. The importance of this relationship can be further underscored by a double-digit drop in buyers interviewing only a single real estate agent, as they want to make sure the agent they choose is one that they can trust.
- 86% of buyers recently purchased their home through a real estate agent or broker, and 10% purchased directly from a builder or builder’s agent.
- 67% of buyers interviewed only one real estate agent during their home search.
- Having an agent to help them find the right home was what buyers wanted most when choosing an agent at 49%.
- 89% of buyers would use their agent again or recommend their agent to others.
To finance or not to finance
While financing remains the most popular option when deciding how to pay for a home, especially among first-time homebuyers, the overall percentage of homebuyers financing their homes dropped by 9% among recent buyers.
- 78% of recent buyers financed their home purchase, down from 87% the previous year.
- First-time buyers who financed their home typically financed 94% of their home compared to repeat buyers at 83%.
- For 47% of buyers, the source of the downpayment came from their savings. 38% of buyers cited using the proceeds from the sale of a primary residence while 22% of first-time buyers used a gift or loan from friends or family for the down payment.
Emerging seller trends
No discussion of the housing market would be complete without a look at the emerging habits of sellers. After all, buying and selling a house are two sides of the same coin. While buyers maintained an iron-clad hold on the market during the pandemic and for a short while after, buyers these days can afford to be more particular in their home search due to the cooling off of property prices in some markets, along with a slight uptick in home inventory and new home construction. Still, much of the buyer/seller power dynamic still resides with the seller.
- For all sellers, the most commonly cited reason for selling their home was the desire to move closer to friends and family (21%), moving due to retirement (11%) and the neighborhood had become less desirable (11%).
- 86% of home sellers worked with a real estate agent to sell their home.
- For recently sold homes, the final sales price was a median of 100% of the final listing price, the highest recorded since 2002.
- Only 20% of all sellers offered incentives to attract buyers, a drop from 26% of all sellers the previous year.
Marital status and homeownership
The narrative around women and homeownership is an increasingly optimistic one, with single females continuing to gain leverage in their pursuit of owning a home — nearly twice that of single males. As you might guess, married couples make up the majority of new home sales, but we've seen an upward trend in unmarried couples buying homes.
- The share of single women buyers rose slightly to 17%, and single males held steady at 9%.
- Unmarried couples made up 10% of recent buyers, the highest share of this group ever recorded.
A snapshot in time
So, that's a look at the statistics, which we hope can give you some insight into the current housing marketplace to help you plan and strategize on your own personal homebuying journey. Of course, as we've seen before, no set of stats can account for every economic factor with the potential to reshape market forces. Still, we believe this snapshot of the state of things will prove valuable to you.
A major takeaway from all this is simply that the housing market is still going strong. The desire to share in their own part of the American Dream is alive and well from California to Virginia, Alaska to Hawaii. While some factors have shifted here and there, overall the statistics are remarkably similar to the previous year, which is highly positive news for those looking to finally have the home of their dreams.
Source: 2022 National Association of REALTORS® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers
Disclaimers:
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