Buyers are spending significant time trying to find the perfect home. Fifty-four percent of active buyers say they’ve been trying to find the right home for three months or longer, according to the National Association of Home Builders’ Housing Trends Report poll.

Buyers say the biggest delays that are stretching out their home search is they can’t find a home at an affordable price (49%), followed by not being able to find a home with the desired features they want (40%) or in their ideal neighborhood (38%).

© National Association of Home Builders

But most of the prospective buyers surveyed say they refuse to give up and will keep looking until they find the right home. The NAHB survey found that buyers who are unable to find a home over the next few months plan to do the following:

• 61% will continue looking until the “right” home opens up in a preferred location


• 37% will expand their search area


• 23% will accept a smaller/older home than originally intended


• 18% will give up trying to find a home until next year or later


• 16% will buy a more expensive home than they originally intended.