For most home buyers, the purchase of real estate is one of the largest financial transactions they will make. Buyers purchase a home not only for the desire to own a home of their own, but also because of changes in jobs, family situations, and the need for a smaller or larger living area. This annual survey conducted by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® of recent home buyers and sellers provides insight into detailed information about their experiences with this important transaction. Here are highlights from the latest report.
- Thirty-three percent of recent home buyers were first time buyers, which is still suppressed from the historical norm of 40 percent among primary residence buyers.
- For 43 percent of home buyers, the first step in the home-buying process was looking online for properties and 12 percent of home buyers first looked online for information about the home buying process.
- Ninety-two percent of buyers use the internet in some way in their home search process and 50 percent of buyers use a mobile website or application in their home search.
- Real estate agents were viewed as a useful information source by 98 percent of buyers who used an agent while searching for a home.
- The typical home buyer searched for 10 weeks and viewed 10 homes—this is two weeks shorter than the previous year’s report.
- Seventy percent of home sellers only contacted one agent before selecting the one to assist with their home sale.
- The share of home sellers who sold their home without the assistance of a real estate agent was nine percent. Forty-four percent knew the buyer prior to home purchase. Full presentation