The Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers is the report prepared after conducting the annual survey of home buyers and sellers who recently closed the deal and is conducted by The National Association of Realtors. The report of 2022 had 129 survey questions. The report gives the details about home buying and selling behavior. The survey is for 12 months starting from July 2021 to June 2022.
As per the report, the buyers were more interested in buying homes near their friends and families. The share of first-time home buyers was observed to be the lowest since the start of data collection i.e 26%. It was also found that buyers have now started buying a house after going through virtual tours and listings. Majority of buyers are taking the help of real estate professionals to buy the right home.
Let’s understand the report with some more insights
Characteristics of Home Buyers
A brief highlight of the characteristics observed in the home buyers are as follows:-
- Out of the total share of buyers, first-time buyers were around 26% which was lower than the previous share of around 34%. Moreover, this was the lowest contribution by first-time buyers since the start of data collection.
- The average age of first-time buyer was found to be around 36 years which was 33 years in 2021. Whereas the average age of repeat buyers reached 59 years. Both ages were at all-time highs.
- Out of the total buyers, 61% of them were married couples, 9% were single males, 17% were single females and around 10% were unmarried couples. The share of unmarried couples is the highest in the history of data collected by NAR.
- In the survey conducted it was found that some percentage of home buyers i.e. around 14% have bought a multi-generational home so that they can take care of their old parents.
- Interesting results have been found as per the ethnicity of home buyers. Both White/Caucasian buyers and Hispanic/Latino buyers have grown their share this year. Whereas the share of other ethnicity is found to reduce.
- Around 22% of the buyers had purchased the home intending to have their own house.
Characteristics of Home Purchased
A brief highlight of the characteristics observed in the home purchased is as under:-
- In the survey, it has been found that more people now prefer second-hand homes. Out of the total purchase of homes around 88% of buyers purchased previously owned homes. And only the remaining small amount of 12% of buyers bought a new home.
- Around 79% of buyers still prefer detached single-family houses. Whereas mobile and manufactured houses are preferred by around 8% of home buyers.
- 7% of the homes purchased were senior-related houses. Around 8% of buyers bought a townhouse or a row house and 17% of buyers typically buy condos.
- The median distance between the house that the buyer purchased and the house from which they moved was found to be around 50 miles.
The Home Search Process
The key highlights of the home search process are as follows:-
- For 47% of home buyers, the first step in the home search process was to search online for properties. On the other hand, around 18% of home buyers preferred to start their home search by first contacting a real estate agent.
- The buyers were found to have searched the home for 10 weeks and looked at around 5 homes. Out of this, they viewed only four homes online.
- Majority of the buyers i.e. around 91% were at least satisfied with their latest home-buying process.
- Buyers do use the internet to search for property. 60% of such searches were conducted on a mobile device and 34% were conducted on a desktop/laptop.
Home Buying and Real Estate Professionals
Key highlights of the role of real estate professionals in home buying.
- Even in the digital era people still prefer real estate consultants for buying a house. Out of the overall buyers, around 86% of them purchased their homes through a real estate agent or broker. Only 10% of them directly bought the house from the previous owner.
- 80% of buyers took the services of an agent that was referred to them by a friend, neighbor or relative. Whereas 12% of buyers took the services of an agent that they had worked with in past to deal in property. Apart from this around 10% of buyers found their agent while searching for property online.
- People still have a lot of trust in real estate services. This can be derived from the survey that says that 67% of buyers interviewed only one real estate agent during their entire home search process.
Financing the Home Purchase
Key insights of financing involved in a home purchase.
- Around 78% of recent home buyers financed their home purchase which was 87% in the 2021 report.
- First-time buyers are found to have paid an average of 6% of the downpayment. Whereas repeat buyers were found to have paid on average 17% of the downpayment.
- Around 47% of the buyers used their savings for a downpayment. Whereas 38% of the repeat buyers used the sales proceeds from their primary residence for a downpayment. 22 % of first-time buyers have even used a gift or loan from friends for the downpayment.
Home Sellers and Their Selling Experience
Key highlights of the selling experience of the home sellers.
- The average age of a home seller was around 60 years. Sellers sold their homes on average after 10 years of living in the house. There was an increase of 2 years to 2021’s report.
- 86% of sellers took the help of a real estate agent to sell their house, 10% of them sold it through the help of FSBO and even less than 1% sold through iBuyer.
- The report says that only 20% of sellers offered incentives to attract buyers. This was recorded at 26% in last year’s report.
Home Selling and Real Estate Professionals
Key highlights of the role of real estate professionals in the home selling
- 63% of sellers used the services of agents referred by a friend, neighbor, or relative or took the services of an agent they had previously dealt with.
- 74% of sellers agreed that they provided compensation to the agent for their services.
- 39% of sellers used the same agent to buy and sell the house.
For-Sale-By-Owners Sellers
Highlights of FSBO sellers are as follows:-
- As per the report, 10% of the home sales this year were FSBO sales.
- 50% of the FSBO sellers already knew the buyer of their home.
- The sale by FSBO sellers was 13% within rural areas and 6% in suburban areas.
Conclusion
The article has given you key highlights of the Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, a report by NAR. This explains to you how have been the behavior of buyers and sellers in the previous year. This would be very helpful for real estate companies and realtors to plan their marketing strategy.
