House Hunters Fear Their Dream Homes Will Remain Elusive

The biggest fear among potential homeowners today is the possibility that they will not a find a property to their liking.

According to a new Harris Poll conducted on behalf of Trulia, 30 percent of the 2,034 adults surveyed cited property likability as their primary house hunting fear. Twenty-four percent expressed agitation that could not get a mortgage, while 23 percent were concerned about rising home prices and 20 percent feared interest rates would rise before they found the home of their dreams.

Most adults queried for this study believed that interest rates will not remain stagnant: 40 percent of Americans think interest rates will change in the next six months, with 37 percent predicting rate hikes and two percent forecasting rate declines. Twenty-four percent believed rates will remain unchanged.

Complicating matters is housing inventory—or, more accurately, the lack thereof. Trulia noted that in its last quarterly inventory report, the number of starter homes on the market dropped by 43.6 percent over the last four years while the number of trade-up homes on the market decreased by 41 percent.

“Consumers are increasingly worried about tight inventory when finding a home, and rightly so,” said Ralph McLaughlin, chief economist at Trulia. “Low inventory has been, and will continue to be, a strong headwind for house hunters, and impacts their ability to buy a home much more than increases in mortgage rates. Homebuyers should be more worried about finding a home than interest rates. In most markets, mortgage rates would have to be between seven percent to 10 percent for financial advantages of homeownership to fall away.”