Closed home sales numbers might not be telling the whole story about how difficult it is to buy a home. Most renters who relocated last year had thoughts of homeownership.
According to the 2016 Zillow Group Report on Consumer Housing Trends, 19 percent of 2016 renters who moved within the last 12 months said that they seriously considered buying, and an additional 39 percent said they considered buying, but were more serious about renting.
Of the renters who make between $50,000 and $99,999 who recently moved, 24 percent said that they seriously considered buying a home.
Zillow theorizes that many of these renters may have been among the house hunters that made failed offers and gave up their search due to the lack of available houses.
The site drew a parallel to the “shadow unemployment rate,” which is an idea that workers who don’t technically count as unemployed might take a job if the right opportunity came along. Hence, unemployment rates are skewed.
New shadows are lurking along the sidelines of the American housing market. Not unlike those workers that aren’t technically unemployed but might take the right job if offered, there is a substantial population of renters who at least considered buying when they last moved, but ultimately decided to rent for some reason.
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