Welcome Home shows more PA homebuyers searching online

PAR has been conducting the Welcome Home survey for four years and we’ve seen some interesting trends begin to develop.

The most fascinating one we’ve noticed in the most recent survey is that the use of the 30-year mortgage spiked substantially in the fourth quarter of 2018. The share of new Pennsylvania homebuyers using a 30-year mortgage climbed from 38 percent in the third quarter to 50 percent in the fourth quarter.

The 30-year mortgage is the most common financing for home purchases and that has remained constant over the last several years. What’s especially interesting is that we saw a similar jump in the fourth quarter in 2017 as well.

It’s hard to know exactly why this happens – do homebuyers face more challenging costs during the fourth quarter? Do potential buyers who need more funding wait until the last quarter to purchase a home? It will be interesting to see if this trend continues.

The new survey also revealed that the number of homebuyers using an online site to find a home grew to more than 60 percent in the fourth quarter. Welcome Home has always showed that Pennsylvania homebuyers lagged in use of websites to look for a home, especially older homebuyers. Interestingly, the biggest drive in this trend was the boost in buyers over the age of 50 who are using websites like realtor.com® and Zillow to find a home.

Older homebuyers had been less likely to use online sites to help in the homebuying process. In the last quarter, we saw more than 50 percent of buyers between the ages of 50 and 64 reported using a website to aid in their home search. In previous surveys, far fewer buyers over the age of 50 would recall using a website to aid in their home search.

These results show just how important our online listing presence is, especially to a larger portion of homebuyers. It might be a good New Year’s resolution to review your online profiles and listings to make sure you’re putting your best foot forward.

Fewer homebuyers found their home in less than three months, down from surveys earlier in the year. Forty-three percent reported taking less than three months to from starting their search to closing on a home, compared to nearly 50 percent throughout 2018. The last three Welcome Home surveys showed nearly 50 percent of buyers reported their home search period last less than three months, and more than 20 percent said they purchased their home in less than one month.

We’ll continue to watch this trend to see if the sense of urgency has calmed for the homebuying market.

For more information on the Welcome Home survey, visit PARealtor.org.