Prospective Buyers Are More Positive About Finding a Home

Homebuyer predictions for housing availability have improved slightly compared to last year. In the second quarter of 2020, 63% of prospective homebuyers thought housing availability would get worse or stay the same, while 25% believed it would become easier to find a home, according to NAHB. More potential homebuyers are positive about the future compared to last year. NAHB notes the data collection occurred from June 16 to 28, when workers started returning to jobs, businesses began reopening, and 30-year fixed rate mortgages continued to drop—a more hopeful time for the economy.

According to the latest Housing Trends Report, 63% of prospective home buyers in the second quarter of 2020 expect housing availability to become harder or stay the same in the months ahead, while 25% expect it will actually be easier to find a home to buy. These results show buyers’ expectations for housing availability have improved slightly from a year earlier, when 67% expected their house search to turn more difficult and only 20% thought it would get easier.

The timing of the data collection for this report (June 16-28) is important, as results need to be interpreted in the larger context of the US economy and the trajectory of new case counts at the time. In June, the labor market showed signs of recovery, gaining 4.8 million jobs and a lower unemployment rate.

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