More Americans than ever say it’s not a good time to buy a house

Key takeaways: 

• Only 30% of adults polled by Gallup said now is an ideal time to purchase, down 23 percentage points from a year back.
• That is the first time the share has been below 50% since the query was first asked in 1978.
• Home costs have been up 34% since the beginning of the outbreak, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index.

Given the spectacular jumps in house prices and mortgage rates, it is not unexpected, but Americans have never been more bearish about purchasing a home.

Only 30% of adults polled by Gallup said now is an excellent time to purchase a house, down 23 percentage points from a year back. 

That is the first time the share has been below 50% since the query was first asked in 1978. (The results are from Gallup’s yearly Economic and Personal Finance poll, conducted April 1-19.)

House prices have been up 34% since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index. The record growth in costs was fueled by mortgage rates, which put more than a dozen record lows in the first year of the pandemic. Rates, nevertheless, have shot up almost two total percentage points in only the previous few months.