Most Buyers Do Not See an Easier Road Ahead

A majority of home shoppers do not expect their house search to get any easier, according to new survey data from the National Association of Home Builders.

The share of prospective homebuyers who thought the process of finding the right home would be easier over the course of the next 12 months was 20 percent, while the share of buyers who think it will stay the same or get harder was at 69 percent, per the NAHB. In their assessment of local inventory, 63 percent of buyers say they saw fewer homes available in the second quarter of 2018 than in the first quarter, and 29 percent say they could see more on the market, an increase of five percent from Q1.

The Housing Trends Report (HTR) is a research product created by NAHB’s Economics team to track prospective home buyers’ perceptions about the availability and affordability of homes for-sale in their markets. Results are based on national polls conducted by Morning Consult, but are not seasonally adjusted due to the short time horizon of the series, and therefore caution is advised when interpreting trends or comparing time periods. This is the second in a series of posts highlighting results for the second quarter of 2018. See previous post on plans to buy.

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