Report: Current market conditions are leading to homebuyer stress

With housing prices rising at such a fast click and homes being snatched off the market before some buyers have even had a chance to see them, house hunting has grown to be a much more tense experience than it used to be.

According to a study from Realtor.com, nearly 75 percent of recent homebuyers say they had a stressful experience when purchasing their home. This is up from 60 percent prior to the pandemic. The survey of 2,000 homeowners, all of whom purchased a home within the past five years, found other interesting differences from buyers who moved before COVID compared to those since the pandemic began.

Just 58 percent of pre-pandemic home buyers viewed five homes or less before making a selection; that number ballooned to 75 percent since COVID struck. Approximately 86 percent of house hunters during the pandemic reported feeling stress and 79 percent say they lost out on a property they put a bid on.

Today, conforming no-point 30-year fixed mortgage rates are averaging 3.0 percent and 15-year rates are near 2.25 percent.

Do you have a question for Real Estate & Mortgage Analyst Mehran Aram? Submit your queries about a home purchase, refinance, or reverse mortgage via Aramco.biz, social media (#AramcoReport), or over the phone at (877) 700-0942 and your questions may be featured in an upcoming article.