COVID-19 Continues to Fuel Desire for Homeownership

Interest in homeownership among prospective buyers continues to grow in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, with 16% of American adults looking to purchase a home in the next 12 months — up from 10% year over year — according to NAHB’s Housing Trends Report for the first quarter of 2021.

This is the third — and largest — year-over-year increase in the series’ history.

This growth is driven primarily by millennials, whose interest doubled from 16% in the first quarter of 2020 to 32% in the first quarter of 2021. Other generations saw more modest increases of one to three percentage points.

Regionally, interest in the Northeast more than doubled year over year, from 8% to 20%, followed by increased interest in the West (up eight percentage points to 19%), South (up five percentage points to 16%) and Midwest (up three percentage points to 11%).

Rose Quint, assistant vice president of survey research, provides more analysis — including details on interest among first-time home buyers — in this Eye on Housing post.