The National Association of Home Builders reports that now is the first time since 2020 that prospective buyers who expect housing availability to improve has increased. One factor likely driving this improved expectation is that there is less competition from buyers who were priced out of the market due to rising mortgage rates. The share of buyers who are optimistic about the search getting easier in the coming months grew from 17% to 22% between the first and second quarter of 2022. But there is still a large contingent who disagree, with 67% of buyers expecting the search to get harder or stay the same, down from 74% the previous quarter.
Results come from the Housing Trends Report (HTR) – a research product created by the NAHB Economics team with the goal of measuring prospective home buyers’ perceptions about the availability and affordability of homes for-sale in their markets. The HTR is produced quarterly to track changes in buyers’ perceptions over time.