The document provides an overview of the National Association of Realtors® research reports profiling home buyers and sellers based on surveys conducted from 2011 to 2012, highlighting demographic trends and motivations for purchasing homes. It includes statistical data on household composition, buyer's preferences, and features of homes sold, with insights on the use of real estate agents in the buying and selling process. Additionally, it discusses the Realtors® Confidence Index and significant changes in the housing market, including price expectations and the impact of distressed properties.

1. Jessica Lautz
May 18, 2013
Overview of
Recent National
Association of
REALTORS®
Research Reports

2. Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers
• Survey conducted with recent
home buyers who purchased a
home between July 2011– June
2012
• Seller information gathered
from those home buyers who
sold a home
• Mailed 93,502 questionnaires
• Received 8,501 responses
• Response rate of 9.1%
• Names obtained from
Experian

3. Demographic Changes Since 2010
2010 Profile 2011 Profile 2012 Profile
Median Age 39 45 42
Gross HH Income $72,200 $80,900 $78,600
Household
Composition
58% married
couples,
20% single females,
12% single males,
8% unmarried
couples
64% married
couples,
18% single females,
10% single males,
7% unmarried
couples
65% married
couples,
16% single females,
9% single males,
8% unmarried
couples
Children in Home 35% 36% 41%
Own a 2nd Home 14% 19% 19%

4. Shift in Household Composition
2001 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Married
couple 68% 59% 62% 61% 61% 62% 61% 60% 58% 64% 65%
Single
female 15 21 18 21 22 20 20 21 20 18 16
Single male 7 11 8 9 9 9 10 10 12 10 9
Unmarried
couple 7 8 9 7 7 7 7 8 8 7 8
Other 3 1 2 2 1 2 2 1 1 1 2

5. First-time Buyer Share Closer to Historical Norm
42%
40% 40% 40%
36%
39%
41%
47%
50%
37%
39%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
55%
60%
2001 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

6. First-time vs. Repeat Buyers
First-time Buyer: Repeat Buyer:
31-years-old 51-years-old
$61,800 $93,100
55% married 72% married
19% single females 14% single females
11% single males 8% single males
14% unmarried couples 5% unmarried couples
42% have children 41% have children

7. Desire to Own Home Remains Top Reason to Buy
All BuyersFirst-time Buyers
Repeat
Buyers
Desire to own a home of my own 30% 60% 11%
Desire for larger home 11 3 16
Job-related relocation or move 9 3 13
Change in family situation 8 9 8
Affordability of homes 7 11 5
Desire to be closer to
family/friends/relatives 6 1 9
Desire for a home in a better area 6 3 7
Retirement 4 1 7
Desire for smaller home 4 0 6
Desire to be closer to
job/school/transit 4 2 5

8. Timing of Buyers Recent Home Purchase
All Buyers First-time Buyers Repeat Buyers
It was just the right time, the
buyer was ready to buy a
home
37% 43% 34%
It was the best time because
of affordability of homes
19 22 17
Did not have much choice,
had to purchase
14 9 18
It was the best time because
of mortgage financing
options available
12 16 10
It was the best time because
of availability of homes for
sale
7 5 8

9. No New Homes to Buy

10. What homes are being sold?
Typical Home:
• Detached single-family home
• 3 beds/2 baths
• 1,900 square feet
• $100/square foot
• Built in 1992
• Suburban-51%, Small town-18%, Urban/Central
city-17%, Rural-12%
• 11 miles from previous home
Check out: Profile of Buyer’s Home Feature Preferences

11. • While more than three-fourths – 78 percent – of
all buyers purchased a home with a garage,
garages were more popular among new-home
buyers, Midwesterners, and suburbanites.
• Forty-one percent of homes purchased had a
basement, but this feature was more popular
among buyers in the Midwest and Northeast.
• Among all 33 home features in the survey,
central air conditioning was the most important
to the most buyers; 65 percent of buyers
considered this feature very important.
2013 Profile of Buyers’ Home Features
Preferences

12. Location, Location, Location
• Quality of the neighborhood
• Convenient to job
• Overall affordability of homes
• Convenient to friends/family
• Design of neighborhood
• Convenient to shopping
• Quality of school district

13. Commuting Costs

14. Environmentally Friendly Features

15. Compromises on Home Purchase
First-time Buyers Repeat Buyers
Price of Home 19% 16%
Size of Home 20 14
Condition of Home 16 16
Lot Size 14 12
Style of Home 14 12
Distance from Job 16 10

16. Increased Purchases in Senior-related Housing
All buyers over 50
Share who purchased a home in senior-related housing 14%
Among buyers over 50 who purchased senior related housing
Type of home purchased:
Detached single-family home 63%
Townhouse/row house 8
Apartment/condo in building with 5 or more units 12
Duplex/apartment/condo in 2 to 4 unit building 7
Other 11
Location:
Suburb/ Subdivision 45%
Small town 21
Urban/ Central city 10
Rural area 7
Resort/ Recreation area 17

17. Expected Tenure Remains High
AGE OF HOME BUYER
All Buyers 18 to 24 25 to 44 45 to 64 65 or older
1 year or less 1% 2 1% 1% 2%
2 to 3 years 2 2 2 1 2
4 to 5 years 7 14 10 4 2
6 to 7 years 2 1 4 1 0
8 to 10 years 13 17 15 12 9
11 to 15 years 6 8 5 5 7
16 or more
years 26 18 27 32 18
Don't Know 43 39 37 43 61
Median 15 10 12 20 15

18. Actual Tenure Among Sellers Remains High
6 6 6 6 6 6
7
8
9 9
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

19. Tightened Inventory Affecting Home Search
• Buyers saw 10 homes before buying-drop from 12 homes
• Typically look for 12 weeks total and 3 weeks before contacting
an agent
• 51% of buyers reported hardest task is in process was finding the
right home

20. Agent Use By Buyers & Sellers Remains High
• 89% of buyers purchased their home through a real estate agent or
broker-up from 69% in 2001
– Most want help finding right home
– Benefited from help understanding the process
– High importance on honesty and integrity
• 88% of sellers were assisted by an agent-up from 77% in 1991
– Sell w/in specific timeframe
– Help market home
– Find a buyer for the home
– Reputation and honesty and integrity important

21. Agent Assisted Sales High
19 17 15 18 16 13 14 14 13 12 12 13 11 9 10 9
77 82 81 80
77 79
83 82 85 84 85 84 85 88 87 88
4 1 4 4
7 8
4 4 2 3 3 3 4 3 3 2
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
All FSBO (For-sale-by-owner) Agent-assisted Other

22. Reasons Behind Selling as FSBO
• Among the 9% of FSBOs
– One-third knew the buyer
– Two-thirds did not know the buyer
• For FSBO sellers who did not know the buyer
– 20% were contacted by a buyer they did not know asking to buy
home increase from 15 percent in 2010

23. FSBO Selling Market
All
Sellers
All
FSBO
Seller
Knew
Buyer
Seller did
not Know
Buyer
All Agent-
assisted
Agent-
assisted
only
First
FSBO, the
n Agent-
assisted
Median selling
price $210,000 $174,900 $151,600 $191,600 $215,000 $215,000 $175,000
Median (sales
price as a
percent of
asking price)
95% 97% 100% 96% 95% 95% 92%
Percent who
reduced asking
price 60% 50% 34% 59% 61% 61% 81%

24. Referrals Matter
• Both buying and selling side:
– More than 50% found agent through a referral or had used agent
before
– 2/3’s only contact 1 agent during buying/selling process
– More than 8 in 10 would use agent again or recommend to others

25. Seller Demographics
• Typical seller looks like:
– 53 years old
– Median HH income of $95,400
– 76% are married, 19% single
– 40% have children in the home
– 93% are white/Caucasian
– 66% are repeat sellers

26. Seller Change
• Moving motivations:
– Job relocation
– Home too small
– Closer to
friends/family
– Neighborhood
less desirable
– Change in family
situation
– Home too large

27. Satisfaction in Selling Process

28. The Search Process

30. Use of the Internet Increased
• More than ½ of buyers
starting home search
online
• Real estate related
searched on Google.com
have grown 253% over
the past 4 years

31. Internet Searchers Use All Search Methods More

32. Agents Still Central to Search

33. Search Engines Play a Critical Role
• Shoppers will perform an average of 11 searches prior to taking
action on a real estate site
• Home shoppers using search engines are 9% more likely to take an
action on a real estate brand website than those who do not search
• 69% of home shoppers who take action on a real estate brand website
begin their research with a local term, i.e. “Houston homes for sale”
on a search engine
• 78% of new home shoppers visit 3 + sites prior to taking action on a
real estate site

34. Video Usage for Home Shoppers

35. Age Gap with Members and Searchers Taking
Action

36. Actions Taken from Viewing Homes Online

37. Satisfaction in Buying Process

38. • Educational achievement
• Civic participation
• Health benefits
• Crime
• Public assistance
• Property maintenance and
improvement
Social Benefits of Homeownership and Stable
Housing

39. REALTORS® Confidence Index
• The REALTORS® Confidence
Index is a key indicator of
housing market strength based
on a monthly survey sent to over
50,000 real estate practitioners.
• Practitioners are asked about
their expectations for home sales,
prices and market conditions.
• In addition, the "Questions of
the Month," feature results of
the most current issue facing the
housing market.

40. REALTOR Confidence Index: Distressed
Properties
• The share of distressed
properties on the market
continued to decline. About
21 percent of REALTORS®
reporting on their last sale in
March sold distressed
properties, compared to
approximately 40 percent in
March 2011.
• Distressed sales are mostly
sold for cash. Distressed sales
accounted for 35 percent of
cash sales compared to 21
percent of mortgage sales.

41. REALTORS® Confidence Index: Home Price
Expectations
• With strong buyer demand and tight
inventory, REALTORS® were generally
upbeat about price trends in the coming
months. Approximately 94 percent of
REALTORS® who responded to
the March REALTORS® Confidence
Index (RCI) Survey expected constant or
increasing prices in the next 12 months.
• The graph shows by state the median
expected price changes within the next 12
months based on responses to the March
2013 Survey. Price expectations are most
upbeat in the West region where inventory
is very low, in Texas, Florida, and Georgia
where prices are recovering, and in strong
growth states such as Virginia.

42. REALTORS® Confidence Index: Price
Discount by Property Type
• Distressed property sold at a
discount of between 12 to 35
percent of the market value
depending on property conditions
over the past year, based on
information from the March
REALTORS® Confidence Index
Survey.
• Not surprisingly, the price discount
is affected by the property condition:
properties in the poorest condition
are discounted at twice the rate of
those with above average condition.
• Currently, about 21 percent of
Existing Home Sales are distressed
properties.

43. REALTORS® Confidence Index: Time on
Market
• Multiple bidding in a low inventory
environment continues to lead to
shorter days on the market.
• About 37 percent of REALTORS®
reported that in March recently sold
properties were on the market for
less than a month when sold
compared to 27 percent in the same
month last year.
• The percentage of REALTORS®
reporting that the house sold had
been on the market for 6 months or
more is down to 20 percent from 28
percent a year ago.

44. REALTORS® Confidence Index: Median Days
on Market
• Tight inventory has led to
shorter time on the market.
• The median days on the
market fell to 62 days in
March (74 in February).
Short sales had the longest
days on market at 81 days
(101 days in February),
while foreclosures were on
the market for 46 days (52
days in February).
• The median days on the
market for non-distressed
properties was 66 days (77
days in February).

45. Where to find NAR Research
• Jessica Lautz: jlautz@realtors.org, 202-383-1155
• NAR Research www.realtor.org/research-and-statistics
• Economists’ Outlook Blog:
economistsoutlook.blogs.realtor.org
• FaceBook: facebook.com/narresearchgroup
• Twitter: twitter.com/NAR_Research

46. Realtor.org Research Page

47. Economist’s Outlook Blog

48. Facebook – Our Home Page

49. Twitter – Our Home Page

50. Additional Reports from NAR Research

51. • Rise in number of transaction sides to 12 from
10 in 2011.
• Sales volume among members rose from $1.3
million to $1.5 million.
• Eight in 10 members expect to remain active in
real estate for the next two years, indicating
increased optimism in real estate.
• For the 3rd year in a row, difficulty in obtaining
mortgage financing was most cited reason for
potential clients being limited.
Positive Changes for Members in 2013
Member Profile

52. Cash Purchases Still High Among
Investment/Vacation Buyers
• 24 percent of buyers purchased an
investment property and 11 percent of
buyers purchased a vacation home.
• The share of vacation buyers who did not
use a mortgage was 46 percent.
• Half of investment buyers paid cash in
2012.
• Vacation buyers expect to own their
vacation home for 10 years.

53. International Clients:
They Come To Buy
• In 2012 there was a total of $82 billion
internationally oriented sales, up from
$66 billion reported in 2010.
• Twenty-eight percent of REALTORS® reported
experience with an international client.
• Approximately 61 percent of international
purchasers bought single family detached
homes

54. Local Market Reports
Real Estate is Local!
• These Local Market Reports (LMRs) reflect
data available through the first quarter of
2013 and are for members only.
• Provide insights into the fundamentals and
direction of the nation's 155 largest
metropolitan housing markets.
• Free, downloadable reports that evaluate
a number of factors affecting home prices,
including:
• The health of the local job market
• Foreclosure rates
• Inventory
• And much more!

55. Relocation Reports
On the Move
• NAR Research has produced a total
of 3,147 Relocation Reports for U.S.
counties.
• The report for each county presents
information for that county on:
 County‐to‐county migration flows
within the United States
 Average incomes of households moving between the specific
county and other counties
 Demographic summaries of homeownership rates, and types
of home mortgages (e.g., Conventional, FHA, VA, and
FSA/RHS)

56. • Commercial members typically have been
in real estate for 25 years, in commercial
real estate for 15 years, and members of
NAR for 17 years.
• Investment sales are the most cited primary
specialty of commercial members and is the
top ranked secondary specialty area.
• Commercial members completed a median
of eight transactions in 2012.
Commercial Members: Expertise in Variety
of Transactions Across Many Property Types

57. • NAR’s flagship commercial real estate
publication
• Available quarterly
• Looks at multi-family, office, retail, and
industrial sectors
• Available at www.realtor.org/research
-- go to Reports by Topic and Click on
Commercial
Commercial Real Estate Outlook