In a recent survey by Redfin, one quarter of all homebuyers surveyed who were looking to purchase a home chose to do so because of high rents. Here are some of the details of the report from Alex Starace of Redfin.
One in four homebuyers is looking to purchase because their rent is too high, according to a Redfin survey of 750 homebuyers this month.
That’s up from one in five in November, and up from one in eight last August. In each survey, when we asked buyers what most influenced their decision to buy, the only choice cited more frequently was a major life event, such as the birth of a child or a marriage.
Reflecting their measured financial approach, 67 percent of buyers said mortgage rates were important or very important in their decision to buy, up from 65 percent in November and unchanged from six months ago.
With the Federal Reserve’s December rate hike in the rearview mirror, buyers are now more confident that rates will stay roughly the same in the next six months. Only 10 percent felt they would increase significantly, compared to 14 percent in our last survey.
Of the buyers surveyed, 33 percent said they are more inclined to buy now as compared to their intentions a year ago, up one percentage point from the previous survey and up five percentage points from the survey administered in August.
