{"id":82504,"date":"2025-10-08T05:00:51","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T12:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.redfin.com\/news\/?p=82504"},"modified":"2025-10-08T09:47:23","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T16:47:23","slug":"delaying-home-car-purchase-government-shutdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.redfin.com\/news\/delaying-home-car-purchase-government-shutdown\/","title":{"rendered":"17% of Americans Are Delaying a Major Purchase Like a Home or Car Due to Government Shutdown. 65% Are Undeterred."},"content":{"rendered":"

Some Americans are changing plans because they\u2019re directly impacted by the shutdown, and others are wary of making a big purchase because of economic uncertainty. But most are moving forward with purchases. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Roughly one in six (17%) Americans are delaying a major purchase like a home or car because of the <\/span>federal government shutdown<\/span><\/a>, according to a new Redfin survey. Another 7% are canceling plans for a major purchase altogether.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The majority of Americans (65%) said the government shutdown has no impact on their purchasing plans. <\/span><\/p>\n

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This is according to a Redfin-commissioned survey conducted by Ipsos on October 3, 2025. The nationally representative survey was fielded to 1,005 U.S. residents. The combined results have a credibility interval of +\/- 3.8 percentage points.<\/span><\/p>\n

The U.S. government partially <\/span>shut down<\/span><\/a> on October 1 after lawmakers were unable to agree on a budget. That means pay has been suspended for roughly <\/span>2 million federal workers<\/span><\/a>, 750,000 furloughed and the rest expected to work without compensation, though they are typically <\/span>entitled<\/span><\/a> to backpay once an agreement is reached. It\u2019s worth noting that the White House is considering <\/span>not <\/span><\/i>paying furloughed federal employees for time they didn\u2019t work during this shutdown, <\/span>according to reports<\/span><\/a>. Millions of other Americans who technically work for private companies also go without pay during a shutdown because their projects <\/span>rely on federal grants or contracts<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 While the length of the shutdown is unknown, it\u2019s likely the government will <\/span>re-open by mid-October<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Some people are canceling or delaying big purchases because they\u2019re directly impacted by the government shutdown; i.e. they\u2019re a federal government employee or contractor who is not currently getting paid, and they may be worried about <\/span>getting laid off<\/span><\/a>. But most Americans aren\u2019t in that position. People whose incomes <\/span>aren\u2019t <\/span><\/i>directly dependent on the federal government\u2019s budget may be rethinking a major purchase because the shutdown is one more in a long line of events making Americans feel unstable about their finances.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The shutdown is exacerbating an already uncertain U.S. economy:<\/b><\/p>\n