Buyers’ Perceptions of Housing Inventory Availability and the Buying Process Becoming Easier Declined Throughout 2021

A deeper dive into the National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) Housing Trends Report (HTR) for Q4 2021 reveals that buyers’ perception of housing inventory availability, and their expectations of the home buying search process becoming easier in the months ahead, declined throughout the year.

Some background history: In early 2018, only 16% of home buyers expected that finding a home would be easier in the months ahead. The share rapidly increased during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, hitting 36% at the end of 2020. But in 2021, buyers’ perceptions of housing inventory worsened throughout the year, and by Q4 2021, only 24% expected easier availability ahead — the lowest since the end of 2019. The decline in expectations accurately reflects the large imbalance between housing demand and supply (particularly existing homes) seen in 2021.

All regions showed a decline in buyers’ perceptions of inventory during 2021. As an example, during this period, the share of Gen-X buyers who expect easing inventory conditions plummeted from 43% to 17%.

Between Q3 and Q4 2021, the share of buyers seeing better availability either declined or remained unchanged in all four Census regions: Northeast (38% to 36%), Midwest (26% to 24%), South (flat at 25%), and West (flat at 36%). In fact, the shares in all regions were lower at the end of 2021 than at the end of 2020.