How bad is the housing supply shortage?
A recent survey from Zillow survey finds that 35% of prospective buyers would buy a haunted house if it cost less.
Four in 10 prospective buyers could be convinced to buy a haunted house if it had the right features, according to the firm.
Interestingly, nearly 30% say they would be more likely to purchase a home if it were haunted.
The findings highlight the extreme compromises buyers are willing to make in order to land a home in today’s housing market.
Zillow’s survey of prospective buyers finds that 40% say they could be convinced to buy a haunted house if it had features such as a big backyard, a pool or a two-car garage.
Nearly one-third of prospective buyers, or 32%, say the same if the home were in their desired location.
Finding a home that checks all the boxes has become challenging with frighteningly few new listings hitting the market. Zillow’s latest monthly market report finds that inventory is starting to creep back up, but it remains more than 10% lower than this time last year, and more than 40% lower than 2019 levels.
“The combination of high prices, limited inventory and rising interest rates is creating a witches’ brew of trouble for would-be homeowners,” says Manny Garcia, a senior population scientist at Zillow, in a statement. “Despite these chilling conditions, life events like job changes, coupling up and having children still drive households to buy. These shoppers have to square their budgets with important home characteristics like bedrooms, bathrooms and floor plans. When balancing so many priorities in an inventory-starved market, avoiding ghosts and ghouls doesn’t always make the cut.”
Photo: Ján Jakub Naništa