Home Buyers’ Perceptions on Affordability Have Not Changed

NAHB’s quarterly Housing Trends Report asks prospective home buyers to estimate the share of homes available in their markets they believe they can afford. For the final quarter of 2018, 76% of buyers estimate they can afford fewer than half the homes for sale in their markets. Rose Quint, of the NAHB, says that share is lower, although not by much, than the 79% of buyers who shared that perception a year earlier.

On the other hand, 23% feel they could buy the majority of homes for-sale in their markets, just barely ahead of the 21% who had that view in the final quarter of 2017. One way to summarize these results is that in the year ended in the fourth quarter of 2018, there was not a lot of change in how home buyers perceived their ability to afford homes available in their markets.

Affordability is an issue for all age groups: 75% to 78% of buyers in each generation can afford fewer than half the homes available in their markets.