Biden's America: 40% Believe Winning Lottery Is Best Chance to Buy a Home, Poll Reveals
A poll has found that many Americans are doubtful they can ever afford a home in President Joe Biden’s America.
A survey conducted by market research company OnePoll last month on behalf of Divvy Homes spot-checked the mood of 2,000 people who do not own homes and found that 40 percent “think hitting a lottery jackpot is their best chance at home ownership,” the rent-to-own startup reported.
“[O]ne in four (26%) believe they’d need to inherit money from someone in order to ever own a home,” the Divvy report said. “One in five (19%) even said they’d have to marry someone rich.”
New Data: Many Americans feel they’ll only ever own a home If they win the lottery, inherit money, or marry richhttps://t.co/cmaZsaDddD pic.twitter.com/bP6BLorwJj
— Divvy Homes (@divvyhomes) June 26, 2023
The poll found that only 53 percent of non-homeowners are confident they will ever get together enough money to buy a house.
Meanwhile, 56 percent of those responding said that if they applied for a mortgage now, they would be denied.
The random double-opt-in survey was conducted June 5-7.
“Potential buyers are looking for alternatives to traditional mortgage financing or are stuck waiting for a reprieve from the rising rates and prices that keeps so many of them renting and locked out of homeownership,” Adena Hefets, co-founder and CEO of Divvy Homes, said in a statement.
“There are so many factors putting downward pressure on a potential homeowner’s buying power — high interest rates, a lack of supply, increasing cost of living — that the starter home seems to be on the verge of extinction,” Hefets said.
The respondents said they would need to earn $76,000 a year, on average, to afford a starter home, along with at least $45,000 in savings for a down payment.
Forty-four percent of those surveyed said they were willing to take a second job or have a side gig in order to afford a home.
“The traditional mortgage process was designed in the 1940s when the norm was a single breadwinner with a steady W-2 income,” Hefets said. “The system hasn’t changed, even though the way we work, live and form families is dramatically different. But today’s younger buyers often lack long periods of income history and are increasingly non-salaried, working as a 1099 contractor, gig worker, or self-employed individual.
“A majority of aspiring homebuyers feel that homeownership is always just beyond their reach, that the ‘American Dream’ of homeownership is slipping away, and that it would take luck, extraordinary circumstances, or a serious change in the mortgage process to make it possible for them to own a home in today’s economic climate.”
Home affordability is falling, according to a report last week from property data provider ATTOM.
On average, major homeownership expenses would eat up about a third of a family’s monthly income, with an income of at least needed to own a typical house in half the markets ATTOM surveyed.
The median single-family home’s value is now $250,000.
“The U.S. housing market has done an about-face following a downturn that threatened to usher in an extended period of flat or falling prices. With that has come another blow to how much house the average worker around the country can afford,” ATTOM CEO Rob Barber said in a statement.
@Attomdata’s Q2 2023 U.S. #HomeAffordability report shows that #affordability has worsened across the nation amid a renewed jump in #homeprices that has pushed the typical portion of #wages required for major homeownership expenses up to 33%: #propertydata https://t.co/zscfkzNVvY pic.twitter.com/TmywynlXP7
— ATTOM (@Attomdata) June 29, 2023
Some believe the housing market could stabilize.
“If current economic conditions persist, with elevated mortgage rates and home prices amid scarce inventory, the market is likely in for a long, slow climb and a few bumps along the way,” Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com, said, according to Forbes.
Others are doubtful.
“There are simply not enough homes for millions of people,” said Orphe Divounguy, senior economist at Zillow.
“Unless we address the shortage of smaller, more affordable, starter-type homes, we risk leaving families without a seat — and it will only get worse over time,” he said.
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