Home Buying Confidence Increased During COVID-19

August 6, 2020

A new survey on consumer sentiment about the real estate market shows buyers are surprisingly optimistic right now.

More than 42,000 consumers across the nation participated in the survey, conducted by Meyers Research. Respondents were represented all age groups, from people born before 1945 to 20-year-old Generation Z.

While COVID has hurt many aspects of life, one thing it hasn’t detracted from is consumers’ confidence in the real estate market. More than 70% of respondents surveyed said 2020 is a good time to buy. That’s an increase from Meyers’ 2019 survey, in which only 60% of respondents said it was a good time to buy.

Consumers gave many reasons why this is a good time to move, with many committing to the mantra, “real estate is never a bad investment.”

Healthy home equity was the reason to buy for 64% of respondents, while 58% of respondents said they wanted to buy due to low interest rates. Another 54% of respondents said they wanted to buy because they have confidence in the market.

The report also broke down home buyers by age group and life stage (couples, singles, families). Millennials (born 1980-94) made up 38% of home buyers, Gen X (1965-79) and Boomers (1945-64) tied at second and Gen Z (1994-2002) came in third, representing just 3% of buyers.

The Meyers team broke down respondents by their life stage into five groups, young families, mature families, young couples, mature couples and single people. They found the biggest buyers within these categories are young families, which make up 27% of buyers. Mature families and couples each made up 21% of buyers in their respective groups, singles comprised 15% of home buyers and young couples come in last, making up 12% of buyers.

When asked their top reasons for buying a home, more than 80% of respondents said location is what they look at when buying, while another 72% said the design of the house was important to them. Price was among the top reasons for another 65%; more than 30% said community amenities were important, 25% prioritized accessibility and 30% said general safety was their biggest concern.