2011 home buyer and home seller trends report

2011 home buyer and home seller trends report

The 2011 National Association of Realtors® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers surveyed 5,708 home buyers and sellers, discovering that the demographics among buyers and sellers have changed this year, both of which are older, have higher incomes and are more likely to be married. What has not changed much is the relationship between Realtor and consumer, with word of mouth referral still topping the ways home buyers and sellers initially connect with their agents.

Below is a list of links to all of the expanded stories on the NAR profile – we encourage you to browse the list and read the stories you might have missed or to learn more about how the trends in 2011 have shifted from past years.

Home buyer demographics

1. Why the demographics of home buyers, types of homes being sold quickly shifted
2. The average American home buyer has changed dramatically this year
3. Home buyer profile reveals that the buyer pool lacks diversity
4. Do more home buyers come from renting an apartment or owning a home?
5. Top reasons cited for purchasing real estate
6. Study reveals second home market is improving, what does the future hold?
7. The changing home buyer in an unstable economy – 26 charts

Home buyer trends

1. Home buyers in 2011 love suburban areas and single family homes
2. Realtor study reveals why home buyers choose to buy in their neighborhood
3. Home buyers paid more but got better deals and bigger homes in 2011
4. Home buyers expect to live in a house longer, unwilling to compromise on purchase
5. 33 charts revealing what impacted home buyer decisions in 2011

Home buying trends

1. Use of the web as a starting point for home buying declined in 2011
2. In 2011, home buyers spend 12 weeks searching and tour 12 homes
3. Buyers that search for a home online are more likely to use an agent
4. Nearly half of all buyers found the home they purchased via the web
5. Were home buyers satisfied with the home buying process this year?
6. 21 charts illustrate top trends in the home buying process in 2011

Consumers connecting with Realtors

1. Percentage of home buyers using a Realtor at ten year high
2. One third of all home buyers didn’t sign a disclosure agreement in 2011
3. The top qualities home buyers say they want in their real estate agent
4. Home buyers rank tech savviness as the least important characteristic in their agent
5. Average home buyers find an agent by word of mouth, interviews only one agent
6. 20 charts show how and why home buyers connect with real estate agents

Home finance trends

1. Percentage of home buyers using mortgage financing is on the decline
2. Where home buyers’ down payments come from, who sacrifices the most
3. Fewer home buyers believe in their home purchase as a good investment
4. 13 graphs charting home purchase finance trends in 2011

Home seller trends

1. Home sellers in 2011 are older, richer and almost exclusively Caucasian
2. Why home sellers sold in 2011, what they moved to and why
3. Home owners are staying in their house longer before selling
4. Home sellers stay close to home, move an average of 18 miles away
5. Top home seller trends for 2011 – almost all consumers now enlist a Realtor
6. Home sellers got a median 95 percent of their home’s listing price in 2011
7. Home sellers report equity gains having dropped dramatically from 2010
8. 36 charts outlining home seller trends in 2011 – sellers are older and richer, equity is down

Home selling trends

1. Top 10 methods home sellers use to find an agent
2. Almost all home sellers use the MLS and want an honest agent above all
3. Home sellers’ satisfaction with their listing agent is up in 2011
4. 2011 Home Seller Profile – 11 charts on seller trends

FSBO trends

1. For Sale By Owner listings are often rural, often single sellers