Lower mortgage rates are drawing out more prospective buyers to look at properties, but house hunters are taking their time in committing.
In the final quarter of 2019, 60% of actively engaged buyers reported spending at least three months searching for a home. That is up from 58% a year earlier, according to the Housing Trends Report from the National Association of Home Builders.
This is the fourth consecutive annual gain in the share of active buyers who have spent three months looking for a home to purchase.
“This trend is closely related to persistently low levels of inventory of new and existing homes for-sale,” notes Rose Quint, the NAHB’s assistant vice president of survey research, at its association’s Eye on Housing blog.
Source: “Time Spent Searching for a Home Is Rising,” National Association of Home Builders’ Eye on Housing blog (Feb. 3, 2020)
