Nearly one in five house hunters (17.3%) are willing to sacrifice their physical safety to find a home they can afford within the next year, according to a survey conducted for Redfin.
Nearly one in four (23.7%) Gen Z respondents say they are willing to live somewhere less safe for the right price, compared to 18.1% of millennials and 17.5% of Gen Xers.
Only 5.5% of Baby Boomers say they would trade their safety.
Survey respondents indicate they are more willing to sacrifice less-vital housing needs, like the number of bedrooms, but a significant number – especially from younger generations – say they would be willing to exchange their safety for affordability.
“Younger generations have come of age during a housing supply crunch, where prices are at all-time highs,” says Elijah de la Campa, senior economist for Redfin. “Couple that with them earning less – relative to older generations – and you can see why they are willing to make more serious sacrifices to find a home they can afford.
“When the typical household earns less than is needed to buy or rent a typical home, house hunters can’t afford not to make sacrifices,” he adds.
Although safety may be seen as a trade-off by some house hunters, roughly the same number of respondents (16.4%) say their concern for safety/crime was at least one of the factors driving their decision to move.
More than one in five Gen Xers (20.8%) say safety/crime was a contributing factor for their move, compared to 17.6% of boomers, 15.3% of millennials and 12.8% of Gen Zers.
Overall, safety concerns were the fourth-most cited reason for wanting to move, behind wanting more space, a lower cost of living and lower home prices—and on the same level as wanting to live near family.
Of the housing features presented in the survey, house hunters were most willing to trade off access to their doctor/healthcare amenities (41%), and restaurants, bars and coffee shops (36%) in their bid to secure an affordable home.
More than one in four respondents (26%) say they were willing to trade access to highly-rated schools for a home within their budget.
One in three (33%) say they were willing to trade off living in an area where people looked like them, or where the local politics/government reflected their beliefs.
The survey of roughly 3,000 U.S. homeowners and renters was conducted by Qualtrics in February.
Photo: Markus Spiske