Prospective buyers are tackling a new housing landscape in 2022, one largely defined by record price gains, peak inflation, and fears of a 2023 recession, but despite new challenges, buyer preferences remain mostly unchanged in Zillow’s 2022 Consumer Housing Trends Report (CHTR). Two thirds of all prospective buyers are shopping for homes online, and the majority are seeking out 3D tours for the most accurate glimpse of for-sale houses from a distance.
Despite interest rates surging beyond 7%, the majority of prospective buyers (63%) said that they plan to finance their home purchase with a mortgage or home loan, while 27% plan to purchase in cash without a mortgage, Zillow reports.
Unsurprisingly, successful buyers were more likely to report a short (18%) or medium (40%) timeline to buy a home than were prospective buyers (12% and 33% respectively). Just over half of prospective buyers (54%) described their homebuying timeline as relaxed – versus 42% of successful buyers.
Prospective buyers who intend to finance their purchase with a mortgage are more likely to report getting pre-qualified or pre-approved. About two in five (42%) say they had completed the pre-qualify/pre-approval step – versus 11% of prospective buyers who were unsure of how they would finance and 34% overall.
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