One in four U.S. adults say they are considering buying a home this year, which extrapolates to a whopping 59 million people, according to a recent survey by Bankrate.com.
Minorities are expected to be big buyers this year. More than two in five black survey respondents said they were considering buying a home. That is more than double the percentage of potential white buyers.
“Black homeowners were harmed in greater numbers by the housing crash” and the foreclosure crisis, says Holden Lewis, a Bankrate.com mortgage analyst. “Now that the economy has improved and time has passed, maybe they’re ready to jump back in and own a home again.”
Also, older millennials and Generation X – which encompasses the ages of 27 to 52 – are showing more willingness to either become homeowners or trade up to a new home, the survey showed.
Young adults have mostly delayed homeownership. “They have been stymied by stagnant wages, student loans, and a lack of available starter homes,” Lewis says. “If enough affordable homes are put on the market, we might see a surge of first-time home buyers in their early to mid-30s.”
Lewis notes, however, what many people say is not always what they’ll be able to do. Rising mortgage rates and an uptick in home prices could prevent some would-be homebuyers from saving enough for a down payment and limited inventories could delay their efforts in finding a suitable home to buy.
About 6 million new and existing homes were sold last year, according to the National Association of REALTORS® and U.S. Census data.
Source: “Know Your Competition: 1 in 4 Adults Is Planning to Buy a Home,” realtor.com® (Feb. 9, 2017)