The Home Buying Landscape Of Singles

• 45% of singles want to buy a home, but more than 1 in 3 are not in a financial position to do so.
• Safety is the #1 concern for prospective home buyers.
• The pandemic impacted single women home buyers more than men.

Buying a home can be a daunting experience, and many navigate this process alone. Single or otherwise, people have to meet certain qualifications before purchasing a property.

To learn more about American singles’ home purchasing plans, Rocket Homes^SM surveyed 1,047 people to better understand their financial health as it relates to buying a home, progress on down payments, barriers to buying and the most important home characteristics.

Breaking Down Home Buying

COVID-19’s influence on the economy likely leads people to think that the housing market suffered as well. However, despite the median price for existing homes reaching an all-time high in 2021, one of the largest home buying booms in recent decades took place alongside it. And singles were not left out of this growth in homeownership.

Among the singles interviewed by Rocket Homes, 62% were current homeowners. And seeing as over 35% indicated having bought their home within the past 6 months, it’s clear that many were a part of this boom.

For many respondents, being single also meant being independent – 71% of them made a home purchase on their own. In fact, they also had around $3,600 more to spend on their down payment versus singles who purchased their home with the help of friends or family. Considering the steady rise of the average sales price of homes in the U.S. over the last handful of decades, every penny counts!

Considering Buying A Home

Looking 6 months into their future, 45% of respondents reported seriously considering investing in a home, 22% had moderate interest and the remaining third weren’t quite ready to take that leap. The more than 66% reporting interest in a home purchase makes sense given the speed at which homes listed sold during 2021 – a trend that experts expect to continue through this year.

One in three prospective home buyers didn’t have the financial means to buy a home, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they didn’t want to get in on the action. The majority of people looking into purchasing a home fell into the moderately financially healthy category, but a sizable chunk were not at all stable, and only 9% reported great financial standing.

The Saving Game

Taking a closer look at down payments, respondents had a healthy sum of money already set aside for an eventual home down payment. They expected to need $25,309 on average and were $7,768 away from hitting that mark. When comparing genders, men were a little more prepared for the payment than women, as they had 60% of what they felt they needed already saved, compared to the latter’s 52%.

Purchasing Roadblocks

Financially healthy or otherwise, the most common reason for not buying a home was because people were waiting for prices to decrease. As previously stated, though, house prices have been steadily increasing for a long time.

Taking The Leap

One might think self-funding the purchase of a home will not be as financially advantageous as doing so with someone else, but respondents who bought their home without assistance from a friend or family member actually had more of their down payment saved than the latter. While proper financial footing remains advisable before purchasing property, many people who didn’t check off all the boxes wanted to buy a home.

Furthermore, the majority of respondents’ main barrier to purchase was the fact that they were waiting for prices to go down. Seeing as market prices have consistently been rising for many years, they may need to be patient a little while longer. Lastly, safety was prospective homeowners’ #1 priority when scouting for a house, which makes sense as a single person. The key to the home buying process is remaining optimistic and vigilant in the pursuit of a worthy investment, single or otherwise.

Methodology And Limitations

Responses from 1,047 single people in the United States were collected via Amazon Mechanical Turk. 52% of participants identified as men, 47% identified as women and roughly 1% identified as nonbinary or nonconforming. Participants ranged in age from 19 – 85 years old with a mean of 36. Those who failed an attention-check question were disqualified. Please note that survey responses are self-reported and are subject to issues, such as exaggeration, recency bias and telescoping.