Four in Five Americans Believe Owning a Home Is an Essential Life Milestone, yet Myths Persist About Affordability and Buying Process
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National Homeownership Month is a month-long event recognized by the federal government and dedicated to the power of owning a home, planting roots in a community, building equity and passing down generational wealth.
“For nearly seven decades,
The survey asked Americans — from Gen Zers to baby boomers — about the importance of homeownership, what factors drive homebuying decisions, and their knowledge of the homebuying process. The findings validated long-standing perceptions and revealed some surprising insights:
Americans Still Want to Own a Home and Think About Homebuying Often
- Top of Mind: In addition to 4 in 5 Americans (83%) believing that homeownership is an essential life milestone, 40% think about buying a home at least once a week, especially Gen Zers (62%) and Millennials (55%).
- Making It Work: About 6 in 10 people (58%) would spend less on nonessentials to save for a down payment for a home, and more than 2 in 5 (45%) would consider taking on a gig job or side hustle.
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Reasons to Own:
U.S. adults cite privacy (49%), long-term financial benefits (44%) and a place to make memories (33%) as the most important reasons to own a home. - Good Vibes: More than half of Americans (51%) associate homebuying with being excited. Many also associate homebuying with feeling proud (43%), motivated (32%) and confident (30%).
Buying a Home Is Exciting, But People Are Nervous
- Lacking Confidence: Over half of Americans (56%) feel that they are in a worse position to buy a home than prior generations.
- The Great Unknown: 1 in 4 associate homebuying with being stressed or nervous.
- Nerve Drivers: When it comes to what aspect of homebuying makes people nervous, 85% are at least somewhat nervous about purchasing a “money pit,” and around 3 in 4 are at least somewhat nervous about being able to afford a home, finding the right home or finding the right partner to help them buy one.
Long-standing Myths and Knowledge Gaps About Homebuying Persist
- The Basics: A majority of Americans have a poor understanding of many aspects of homebuying. Only around half correctly identified the meaning of terms such as “APR” (56%) or “PMI” (54%); of this group, Gen Zers and Millennials are less likely to be familiar.
- Financial Knowledge: Only about 1 in 3 people know key facts about financing a home, including that a minimum down payment of 20% is not required (36%) or that one can qualify for a mortgage with a credit score in the 500s (28%).
- Myth Buster: More than half (54%) believe — incorrectly — that mortgage rates are at an all-time high, and 1 in 6 aren’t sure at all whether they are at the highest. In fact, the highest rates on record were in 1981, when the 30-year fixed rate peaked at 18.6%,much higher than today.
To learn more about how
About
About the Survey
The survey was conducted online within the
Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in The Harris Poll surveys. The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval. For this study, the sample data is accurate to within +/- 2.5 percentage points using a 95% confidence level. This credible interval will be wider among subsets of the surveyed population of interest. All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to other multiple sources of error, which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including, but not limited to, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments.
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