Homebuyer Confidence Retreats As Rates Rise

The survey of prospective homebuyers on the real estate search website Movoto by OJO Labs showed consumer confidence in homebuying scored +21.5 on a scale from -100 to 100, a decrease from the score of +25.6 that was recorded over the previous monthly period.

OJO Labs surveyed users who indicated they were interested in learning more about a home between December 21, 2021, and January 25, 2022, and asked them to rate homebuying conditions over the next three months, according to the report. 

“Of the 1720 respondents, 30.2% of respondents agreed that the next three months would be a good time to buy a home, the largest cohort of any responses,” reported Patrick Kearns, director of storytelling for OJO Labs. “An additional 19.2% strongly agreed that the next three months would be a good time to buy a home, meaning that slightly fewer than half of all respondents believed it would be at least a good time to buy a home in the next three months.”

About 22.5% of respondents said they neither agree nor disagree that the next three months will be a good time to purchase a home, according to the report. The number of folks who strongly disagree with the statement rose from 19.2% last month to 20.8% this month. Meanwhile, 7.1% of respondents said they disagreed with the statement, an increase from 6.5% the previous month.