According to the National Association of Home Builders, prospective buyers have a better outlook on the ease of home searches. The perspective rose from 17% to 22% between the first and second quarters of 2022. This is the first increase in the last five quarters. The rise in the positive outlook stems from the result of easing competition among buyers getting priced out of the market by recent increases in mortgage rates. Last quarter 74% of potential homebuyers felt it was harder or stayed the same and this has decreased to 67% this quarter.
Another positive outlook that was measured was prospective buyers’ perception of housing inventory. The second quarter of 2022 saw a rise from 23% last quarter to 28%. This is also the first decline seen for five straight quarters.
The Midwest was the only region that did not see any improvement in housing availability expectations declining from 15% to 14%. The West saw an increase from 18% the previous quarter to a whopping 31% while the Northeast rose from 22% to 28%, and the South from 17% to 18%.
This information comes from NAHB’s Housing Trends Report (HTR). This is created by the NAHB Economics team and is produced quarterly. HTR records changes in buyers’ perceptions over time of their perceptions about the availability and affordability of homes for sale in the buyer’s markets.
