More would-be homebuyers predict housing search to ease up soon

Would-be homebuyers are feeling optimistic about their housing search.

According to the National Association of Home Builders’ Housing Trends Report, 22% of prospective buyers said they anticipate searching for a property to purchase to become easier over the next few months. This is an increase of 8% year-to-year. Those would-be homebuyers who predict the home search will become harder or stay the same was 67%, down from 73% year-to-year.

Baby boomers are the generation most likely to think that finding a home will be a challenge, while millennials are the most likely to think it will become easier. Twenty-three percent of millennials, 22% of Generation X, 20% of seniors and 18% of boomers think that the housing search will be easier over the upcoming months.

Across the U.S., buyers in the Midwest were the most optimistic, with 25% believing the house search will become easier at 25%, followed by the Northeast at 24%, the South at 21% and the West at 20%. This is not surprising, as cities in California routinely rank as the most expensive places to reside in the U.S.

Buyers are also reporting that there are more affordable and attractive homes on the market in their area. Thirty percent of buyers said there are more of these homes, up 4% year-to-year. Buyers who felt there was less homes on the market that they can both like and afford dropped 3% year-to-year, from 63% to 60%.

Generation X was the generation most apt to say they had affordable and attractive homes for sale in their area at 31%, followed by millennials at 30%, boomers at 27% and seniors at 21%.