Home | Newsletter | Advertise
loading...

1984 v. 2015: The Home Search Over 30 Years

  • February 24, 2016

by UrbanTurf Staff

1984 v. 2015: The Home Search Over 30 Years: Figure 1

The home buying process has evolved over the years, but a few things have not changed much, according to a recent report.

The Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers report from the National Association of Realtors looked at the length of time and number of properties that a prospective buyer looks at today and over the last 30 years. The report found that homebuyers in 2015 spend about three more weeks looking for a home than they did back in 1987 (ten versus seven), but look at two less properties in-person (ten versus twelve).

Despite a few ups and downs, the thing that has remained most constant over the past three decades is the amount of time that a buyer spends looking for a new home. For most of the 1990s and 2000s, home buyers searched for a median of two months. It wasn’t until 2009-2010 that the search increased to almost three months. Three months was the median until 2014 when the search period dropped back down to ten weeks for the last two years.

Below is a year-by-year breakdown:

1984 v. 2015: The Home Search Over 30 Years: Figure 2

The thumbnail image for this article is a studio unit for sale at 201 Massachusetts Avenue NE.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/the_35_year_home_search/10911

DC Real Estate Guides

Short guides to navigating the DC-area real estate market

We've collected all our helpful guides for buying, selling and renting in and around Washington, DC in one place. Visit guides.urbanturf.com or start browsing below!

First-Timer Primers

Intro guides for first-time home buyers

Red Flags Revealed During a Home Inspection Top 5 Tax Breaks For Homeowners Tax Relief for DC Homeowners
Condo Fee Tutorial What is a Rent Back? 10 Ways To Tell If a Home Renovation is Well Done
Obtaining a Basic Business License For Your Rental What is an Adjustable Rate Mortgage? The Splitting the Rent Formula
How Much Cash Do You Need to Buy a House? Is This Condo Building Financially Healthy? Interest Rates and Mortgage Points
The Scoop on Mortgage Insurance

Unique Spaces

Awesome and unusual real estate from across the DC Metro

The Most Intriguing Loft in DC The R Street Firehouse DC’s One-Room House
Dupont Circle’s Old Frat House To Become Alley Home Best Transition From a Garage To a Home The Roundhouse
Tilden Gardens Restaurant-Turned-Home Hits Market Next Week Logan Circle’s Most Intriguing Garage Frank Lloyd Wright Goes Green in Kensington
Sears Bungalow Gets a Modern Makeover Old Town General Store Becomes Three-Level Home Making the Most of a Skinny House
A Studio 27 Renovation on Capitol Hill Once a Carriage House, Now a Home The Bank that Became a Home
From Pie to Hooch to Heroin to Home The Live-Aboards of Gangplank Marina A Treehouse with Rock Creek Park As A Backyard
Modern Tranquility in Sperryville Saddle Up For Stable Living Throwing a Curve at 550 Square Feet
A Modern Hilltop Retreat Tilden Street Restaurant Becomes Spacious Home Focus on Design: A Vastu Unit at 22 West
The DC Area’s First Net Zero Home A Yankee Goes Green DC’s First Carbon Neutral Home
Eco-Friendly Alley House Off H Street The Gym, The Stables and The Firehouse