Buying a Home Today May be Difficult
Sometimes, you can get the best deals when the economy is not so good. However, you may end up with a higher mortgage rate. One years we purchase a home In Schaumberg, Il for a good price and ended up with a 12% mortgage due to the economy. Since my wife’s mother was living with us, she pitched in and we managed quite well.
If you can buy, then buy. I do not have a crystal ball to tell you how much better the economy can be in the near term. The opposite may be true also. In that the economy improves and the mortgage rate drops.
Roughly speaking. 25% of potential buyers expect to take the leap in purchasing a home in the next five years. This is down from 30% a year ago. It was as high as 49% in the last decade. More plan to sit it out and wait for a better environment of home buying.
“Homebuying Intentions Decline Further in U.S.,” Gallup
Megan Brenan
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The share of U.S. non-homeowners who expect to buy a home within five years has dropped to 25%. This Poll is the lowest Gallup has measured in seven readings since it began asking the question in 2013.
Another 28% of non-homeowners now say they expect to buy a home within 10 years. Forty-five percent do not think they will do so in the foreseeable future.
Between 2013 and 2018, non-homeowners’ intentions to buy a home within five years were much higher than they are today and ranging from 41% to 49%. When Gallup next asked the question in 2025, the figure had dropped to 30%.
The poll findings were 61% of Americans say they own their primary residence. Thirty-four percent of Americans rent. Homeownership in the U.S. has been averaging 61% in Gallup polls since 2012. This is down from 70% between 2001 and 2011.
The latest findings come from Gallup’s annual Economy and Personal Finance poll. It was conducted April 1-15, a period when the median home price hovered around $409,000. Mortgage rates, while somewhat lower than a year ago, remained well above the historic lows of 2020 and 2021. Meanwhile, Americans’ views of the nation’s economy and their outlook for their own financial situation has worsened. Taken together, these conditions help to explain why many non-homeowners see purchasing a home as increasingly out of reach.
The decline in near-term homebuying intentions is the most pronounced among younger non-homeowners. They would typically be the most likely first-time buyers. Two-year combined averages of the data reveal 29% of non-homeowners aged 18 to 34 in 2025 and 2026 expect to buy a home within five years, This is down from 57% in 2013 and 2015 and 53% in 2016 and 2018.
At the same time, the share of young non-homeowners saying they will not buy in the foreseeable future has more than doubled, going from 13% to 30%. Notably, however, the share expecting to buy within 10 years has risen from 27% to 41%. This suggests younger non-homeowners have not abandoned the idea of buying a home but are pushing their timeline out significantly.
Most Continue to Think Housing Market Is Bad
Another factor that makes the housing market difficult for would-be buyers is a lack of inventory. Currently, 18% of homeowners say they plan to sell within the next five years, 16% say within the next 10 years, and 65% say they are unlikely to sell in the foreseeable future.
Most Continue to Think Housing Market Is Bad
These challenges appear to be influencing how Americans view the housing market more broadly, as 29% say now is a good time to buy a house, while 67% say it is a bad time. This is the fifth consecutive year that a majority of U.S. adults have seen the market as unfavorable, a stark shift from most of the previous two decades when solid majorities were positive about homebuying. Still, the percentage of Americans saying it is a good time to buy a house has risen from its record low of 21% in 2023 and 2024.
The Majority of all the major demographic groups think it is a bad time to buy a house. However, there are differences within some groups. The widest gap in views of the housing market falls along partisan lines. Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (41%) are nearly twice as likely as Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents (22%) to say it is a good time to buy a house. The gap likely reflects the change in presidential administrations, as partisans’ views of the economy and major institutions tend to improve when their party occupies the White House. In comparison, and two years ago, 18% of Republicans and Republican leaners said it was a good time to buy a house.