Prospective Buyers’ Expectations for Housing Availability Improve for First Time Since 2020
After falling steadily for five quarters, the share of prospective buyers expecting the home search to get easier in the months ahead grew from 17% to 22% between the first and second quarters of 2022. The increase is largely the result of easing competition among buyers getting priced out of the market by recent increases in mortgage rates. In contrast, 67% expect the search to get harder/stay the same, down from 74% in the previous quarter.
Another measure confirms that buyers’ perceptions of housing inventory pivoted in the second quarter of 2022. After declining for five straight quarters, the share of buyers seeing more homes available for sale in their markets turned around in the second quarter of 2022, rising to 28% from 23% a quarter earlier.
Rose Quint, NAHB assistant vice president for survey research, provides a regional breakdown on both metrics in this Eye on Housing post.
Latest from NAHBNow
Workforce Development
Nov 28, 2025
How You Can Support Workforce Development on Giving TuesdayTo help give students the tools they need to build their career in the construction industry, Home Builders Institute (HBI) is participating in Giving Tuesday on Dec. 2.
Safety
Nov 28, 2025
Keep Workers Safe and Warm on Winter JobsitesWith Fall set in across the country and winter rapidly approaching, it is important to know the dangers of cold stress and the best ways to stay safe and warm on your jobsites.
Latest Economic News
Economics
Nov 26, 2025
Property Taxes by State – 2024Nationally, across the 87 million owner-occupied homes in the U.S., the average amount of annual real estate taxes paid in 2024 was $4,271, according to NAHB analysis of the 2024 American Community Survey.
Economics
Nov 25, 2025
Share of New Homes with Decks Edges LowerThe share of new homes with decks edged down from 17.6% in 2023 to a new all-time low of 17.4% in 2024, according to NAHB tabulation of data from the HUD/Census Bureau Survey of Construction (SOC).
Economics
Nov 25, 2025
Building Material Prices Continued to Rise in SeptemberAggregate residential building material prices rose at their fastest pace since January 2023 in the latest Producer Price Index release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Input energy prices increased for the first time in over a year, while service price growth remained lower than goods.