Prospective Buyers’ Expectations of Housing Availability Decline for Third Consecutive Quarter

According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) latest Housing Trends Report (HTR), there has been significant changes in buyers’ perceptions in regard to the challenges of the easier home availability.

The initial HTR survey took place in Q1 of 2018, and at that time only 16% of buyers expected easier availability in the months ahead. The share soared to 36% by the Q4 of 2020 (during the COVID-19 pandemic), only to drop throughout 2021, reaching 25% by Q3.

Today, 66% expect that finding the right home will be harder or not change much, up from 54% in Q4 of 2020. This worsening in buyers’ perceptions of inventory accurately reflects the scarcity of homes for-sale — particularly existing homes — during 2021.

Regionally, the expectation that housing availability will ease up declined in all four reporting areas between Q4 of 2020 and Q3 of 2021. The HTR reports that in the Northeast, the share of buyers expecting the house search to get easier dropped from 44% to 29%; in the Midwest, from 23% to 16%; in the South, from 32% to 22%; and in the West, from 40% to 35%. From the Q2 to Q3 of 2021, however, perceptions of availability did improve in the West.