Though nearly half of Americans who considered buying a home in the first quarter of 2020 have moved to actively searching for a home, they’re taking longer to make a final decision than before, according to the NAHB 2020 Housing Trends Report. Over half of buyers are spending at least three months looking for a home, which is the fifth straight year of increases in time spent on the search. And NAHB notes that the timing of this information is critical as it was gathered in the beginning of March—and the beginning of the economic downturn due to the pandemic. With unemployment and uncertainty thrown into the mix, many homebuyers aren't exactly jumping the gun to get back into the market.
Of the 10% of American adults considering a home purchase in the first quarter of 2020, about half (49%) have moved beyond just planning and are actively engaged in the process to buy a home. This “active buyers” share was slightly higher than in the first quarters of 2018 and 2019—both 46%, and a possible sign that low interest rates steered a few marginal buyers to become engaged in the buying process.
Across generations, Millennials (54%) and Gen Z (51%) prospective buyers are the most likely to be actively looking for a home, compared to 43% of the older two generations. Across regions, more than half of buyers planning a home purchase in the Northeast (56%) and West (52%) are actively engaged, compared to 45% in the Midwest and South.
The timing of the data collection for this report is highly consequential. The online survey was in the field from March 17 through March 28, the early stage of the COVID-19 crisis in the US. About 12 million people filed for unemployment benefits in the two weeks immediately after data collection closed. For this reason, we assess that responses in this quarter’s report mostly reflect people’s views prior to the full impact of stay-at-home orders and social distancing restrictions imposed by local and state governments.
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