Who's Buying? National Association of Realtors Update

The National Association of Realtors recently released their annual profiles of buyers and sellers with several updates about what the market is doing at a National Level. Certainly, the Naples area is a unique beast in and of itself, so there are many trends that may not apply to our market. However, there are a few data points that I found particularly interesting and wanted to share:

• For Sales By Owner: for-sale-by-owner transactions (FSBOs) hit an all-time low of 8 percent for the second straight year. [A big misconception by many FSBOs is that they are saving money by not paying a real estate firm commission... research shows that the opposite plays out in many situations because buyers often enter FSBO's considering that the seller is not paying commission and tend to make lower offers because of that.]
• First Time Home Buyers: The percent of buyers that are first time home buyers rose to 35%. This is a rise over prior years but not at par with the 40% average over the 35-year time frame that NAR has been conducting the survey. 61% of this population is under 35 years of age.

• Married Couples: Married couples have historically accounted for the largest segment of buyers and this year was no different as they accounted for 66% of all buyers.

• Single Females: The highest % of buyers that single females has had in any of the 35-years NAR has been conducting this survey was 18%. In recent years it has been running lower than that but ticked up to 17% this year.

• Money Down: There was not much change reported in the amount of money buyers are putting down on homes. First time home buyers put down an average of 6% while repeat home buyers put down an average of 14%.

• Financing: 59% of buyers who financed their homes reported using financing for their home purchase, including 33% of first time buyers leveraging FHA backed loans (a decline from 2011, when it was 54%).

• Finding a Home: In line with past years, the internet and real estate agents accounted for the majority of how buyers found and purchased their home. (05% used the internet and 90% used a real estate agent, which indicates most buyers are using both). 72% of those buyers predominately used their mobile device for the search.

• Type of Home: Single family homes still account for the largest share of home purchases at 83%. This is an area that we often see Naples statistics differing from the national numbers.