Home Buyers Profile Says Affordability is Hurdle

The National Association of Realtors recently released a new Aspiring Home Buyers Profile that said affordability was the main hurdle for potential buyers.  According to the report, non-owners said that affordability of homes was the number one reason they don’t currently own.  Specifically, half of those surveyed said that they could not afford to buy, roughly one fifth said they wanted the flexibility of renting, and a small percentage did not want the responsibility of owning a home at all.  The Aspiring Home Buyer Profile is an in-depth examination of the consumer preferences of non-homeowners, defined as those that rent and those that live with someone else (such as family or friends) without paying rent. It compares and contrasts the perceptions of homeownership, the American Dream, and housing affordability from the perspective of non-homeowners.

Some takeaways:

• Of the U.S. consumer households that were surveyed, 64% of respondents were homeowners, 26% were renters, and 11% lived with someone else.
• Of the non-owners, 59% were 34 years or under, 64% make an income of under $50k, and 43% live in suburban areas.
• For non-owners, the perception that now is a good time to buy a home was roughly the same across age, income, and city size, with the exception of the West region which was lower than all other regions.

Click here to read the full report at the National Association of Realtors.