Homebuyers Undeterred by Seller's Market; Willing to Pay More According to Redfin Real-Time Homebuyer Survey

SEATTLE, May 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Redfin (www.redfin.com), a technology-powered real estate broker, today released its latest survey of homebuyers. Data was collected from May 17 through May 21, capturing sentiment of 1,353 active homebuyers across 22 U.S. markets who had recently toured a home with a Redfin agent. The Redfin Real-Time Homebuyer Survey is a companion to the quarterly Home-Seller Survey and Agent Survey.

Respondents cite low inventory and rising prices as key concerns when shopping for a home, but while the percentage of people worried about inventory has remained steady throughout 2013, concern about rising home prices has more than doubled year over year. Despite this, homebuyers are accepting the reality of a seller's market and expressing a willingness to pay more. Notably, unease about the overall economy continues to recede.

Results Snapshot:

• Moving toward consensus that this is a seller's market: Just 31% of buyers believe now is a good time to buy in their neighborhood, down from 40% last quarter.  More than twice as many--67%--see now as a good time to sell, up from 48% last quarter.
• Increasingly willing to pay more: Forty-one percent of buyers indicated that low inventory has caused them to consider paying more for a home, up from 34% in the first quarter and just 26% in the fourth quarter.
• Homebuyers anticipating further price increases remained unchanged: The percentage of homebuyers who anticipate further price increases in their neighborhood remained virtually unchanged from last quarter. Both quarters, 79% indicated a belief that prices will increase in the next 12 months. This quarter, 23% think prices will rise "a lot," up just slightly from 22% last quarter.
• Rising prices are an increasingly common concern: Forty-eight percent of buyers listed rising prices as a major concern, up from 40% last quarter.Sixty-five percent cited low inventory as a major concern in the first quarter, down slightly from 66% last quarter.

About the Q2 2013 Redfin Real-Time Home-buyer Survey This quarter's seller survey took place from May 17 through 21, 2013. We surveyed 1,353 active homebuyers who had toured a home with a Redfin agent since February 22, 2013.  The results span 22 metropolitan markets in the U.S.: Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, Orange County, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, Raleigh, Riverside / San Bernardino, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington DC.

Click here to view full report, including charts and graphs. Additional data is also available by contacting [email protected].

About Redfin

Redfin (www.redfin.com) is a technology-powered real estate broker that represents people buying and selling homes. Founded and run by technologists, Redfin has a team of experienced, full-service real estate agents who are advocates, not sales-people, earning customer-satisfaction bonuses, not commissions. Redfin's online tools feature all the broker-listed homes for sale, as well as for-sale-by-owner properties that don't pay brokers a commission. The company serves 22 U.S. markets and has closed more than $8 billion in home sales. In 2012, Redfin was named one of The DIGITAL 100: World's Most Valuable Private Tech Companies by Business Insider. Follow us on our blog (blog.redfin.com), Twitter (@redfin), and Facebook (facebook.com/redfin), Redfin Collections (www.redfin.com/collections), and on our mobile apps (www.redfin.com/mobile). 

SOURCE Redfin

WANT YOUR COMPANY'S NEWS FEATURED ON PRNEWSWIRE.COM?

440k+
Newsrooms &
Influencers

9k+
Digital Media
Outlets

270k+
Journalists
Opted In

GET STARTED