A white picket fence, a cozy wrap-around porch, and a perfectly landscaped yard your neighbors drool over. 🏡 Is that still the American Dream? Honestly, our American Dream is simply getting a solid 8-hours of sleep. 😴
In their latest Home Affordability Report, Bankrate dropped some heat on how Americans feel about homebuying. For your nerdy pleasure, we’ve pulled out some of the top takeaways. 👇
Here’s Five Fast Facts on the state of homebuying in 2025:
- 🏘️ Feeling Down - For many Americans, the down payment part of the homebuying equation hurts the most. Roughly 81% of potential buyers said the down payment/closing costs combo was the biggest barrier to home ownership. In fact, 20% said they’ll never be able to save for a down payment. For those who do plan to save, 12% said it’ll take 10 years or more to meet their goal. Only 4% said they’ll have enough saved within a year or two.
- 💸 Shake Your Money Maker - Out of the Americans who COULD afford a down payment and closing costs, 44% reported using their savings. Some relied on first-time homebuyer grants or loan programs (17%) or monetary gifts from friends or family (15%). Others found an additional source of income (10%), cashed in retirement savings (8%), or sold valuables (6%).
- 🌬️ Winds of Change - When it comes to making big-time changes in the name of buying a home, 69% of Americans said they would. Specifically, survey respondents said they’d downsize (44%), take a chance on a fixer-upper (34%), or move out of state (34%).
- 😰 No Take Backs - Buyer’s remorse isn’t just for Amazon shopping sprees. It hits homebuyers, too! According to Bankrate’s survey, 40% of homebuyers with regrets reported maintenance and hidden costs as the biggest pain point. Other regrets included buying too small of a space (18%), choosing the wrong location (15%), and high mortgage rates (13%).
- 🙊 Still Stinky - Americans are a tiny bit more optimistic about homebuying this year compared to last year. In 2024, 42% of Americans said it was a bad time to buy a home compared to 40% in 2025. In terms of mortgage rates, 41% believe they’ll stay high for the foreseeable future.
🔥Bottom line: Home prices may still be higher than our buddy Snoop Dogg, but is an inflation cool down heading our way? Hey, if they’re handing out relief, we’ll take it. Check out this article and catch yourself up on the latest.
Planning on buying a home in 2025?
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