For the latest Redfin Real-Time Home-Buyer report, we surveyed 1,353 active homebuyers who have recently toured homes with Redfin, in order to get their pulse on the market. While homebuyers’ frustration with low inventory continues to increase, there is also increased understanding of the seller’s market and a willingness to pay more. Expectations that prices will continue to increase remained largely unchanged, and concerns about overall economic stability continued to fall.
Key findings of this quarter’s report include:
- Moving toward consensus that this is a seller’s market: Just 31% of buyers believe now is a good time to buy in their neighborhood, down from 40% last quarter. More than twice as many–67%–see now as a good time to sell, up from 48% last quarter.
- Increasingly willing to pay more: Forty-one percent of buyers indicated that low inventory has caused them to consider paying more for a home, up from 34% in the first quarter and just 26% in the fourth quarter.
- Homebuyers anticipating further price increases remained unchanged: The percentage of homebuyers who anticipate further price increases in their neighborhood remained virtually unchanged from last quarter. Both quarters, 79% indicated a belief that prices will increase in the next 12 months. This quarter, 23% think prices will rise “a lot,” up just slightly from 22% last quarter.
- Rising prices are an increasingly common concern: Forty-eight percent of buyers listed rising prices as a major concern, up from 40% last quarter.Sixty-five percent cited low inventory as a major concern in the first quarter, down slightly from 66% last quarter.
For the full report including data tables and charts, visit the Real-Time Market Sentiment in Redfin’s Research Center.