It’s no cakewalk out there if you’re a homebuyer. According to a National Association of Homebuilders’ Rose Quint, in her Eye on Housing report, during the last quarter of 2020, 69% of buyers who were actively engaged in the process of finding a home in the final quarter of 2020 have spent upwards of 3 months searching for a home without success. “For the first time in this series history, the number one reason long-time searchers haven’t made a home purchase is not because of their inability to find an affordably-priced home (33%), but because they continue to get outbid by other offers (40%). The reasons are flipped from a year earlier when 44% cited unaffordable prices and only 19% better offers by other buyers.”
When asked about their plans should they fail to procure a sale in the next few months, 50% of active buyers searching for 3+ months said they would continue looking for the ‘right’ home in the same location. 38% said they would expand their search area, both about the same shares as a year earlier. But Quint reports that the most significant year-over-year changes come in the shares likely to give up until next year or later. Others will try to buy a more expensive home, and yet others will accept a smaller/older home.
Quint notes that most importantly, historical data show a steadily rising trend in the share of long-term searchers likely to quit looking for a home until next year or later, as the latest increase marks the fourth year-over-year rise in this metric.
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