Share of Active Home Buyers Grows Sharply in Q3

Higher interest rates are pricing out some (not all) buyers, but also transforming remaining prospects into active buyers.  In the third quarter of 2022, 59% of prospective buyers had moved beyond the planning phase and become fully engaged in the buying process, up from 46% in the first quarter and 49% in the second quarter of the year.

The share of prospective buyers actively searching for a home rose in every region between the second and third quarters of 2022: Northeast (54% to 62%), Midwest (51% to 53%), South (39% to 51%), and West (57% to 68%).

Buyers actively looking for a home are having a harder time finding what they want: in the third quarter of 2022, a record 70% have spent 3+ months searching, up from 63% a quarter earlier.

**Results come from the Housing Trends Report– a research product created by the NAHB Economics team with the goal of measuring prospective home buyers’ perceptions about the availability and affordability of homes for-sale in their markets.  The HTR is produced quarterly to track changes in buyers’ perceptions over time.  All data are derived from national polls of representative samples of American adults conducted for NAHB by Morning Consult.  Results are seasonally adjusted.  A description of the poll’s methodology and sample characteristics can be found here.  This is the fifth in a series of six posts highlighting results for the 3^rd quarter of 2022. See previous posts on plans to buy, new vs. existing preference, housing availability, and housing affordability.