Zillow Consumer Trend Report

As the year comes to a close, The Zillow Group Report on Consumer Housing Trends was released in October, highlight the past year’s trends and is a comprehensive survey of U.S. homebuyers, sellers, owners and renters. It contains valuable information on how Americans make home-related decisions, including how they research and partner with real estate agents. These insights can help you better understand your clients, so that you can influence the conversations they’re already having about real estate and become their trusted advisor.

Here are 10 key takeaways from the report you might find interesting.

1. Still think Millennial don’t want to own homes? Not true: Half of today’s home buyers (50%) are under the age of 36, and 47% are first-time buyers.

2. It might be a seller’s market, but buyers are still being selective. The average buyer takes an average of 4.2 months to search, goes on seven home tours, and only 46% get the first home on which they make an offer.

3. The stereotype of Millennial as urban dwellers falls flat: 47% of millennial homeowners live in the suburbs.

4. It might be a seller’s market, but buyers are still being selective. The average buyer takes an average of 4.2 months to search, goes on seven home tours, and only 46% get the first home on which they make an offer.

5. The stereotype of Millennial as urban dwellers falls flat: 47% of Millennial homeowners live in the suburbs.

6. If “getting reviews” is still an item languishing on your to-do list, hop on it: Nearly as many buyers find an agent online (26%) as they do from personal referrals (33%).

7. Sellers consider an average of three agents.The younger the seller, the more agents they evaluate before choosing one.

8. When choosing an agent, buyers and sellers of all generations share their top priorities: a gut sense that an agent is trustworthy, responsive to their needs and knowledgeable about their local market.

9. Taking buyers on private home tours is the number one service repeat buyers (72%) and first-time buyers (62%) want from agents, followed closely by alerting buyers to new homes on the market and pre-screening homes.

10. The number one thing sellers want from an agent is help determining the list price of their home (50%) with general advice about selling and contract negotiation as their second and third (35% each) choices.

Zillow Group© Report on Consumer Housing Trends – October 18, 2016.

Captions on artwork pulled from data on online article talkbusiness.net