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Slide 1: Despite consumer demand for housing remaining high, homebuyers' confidence in their ability to save enough for a down payment fell in the first quarter, with some feeling less positive than others.
Millennials in particular saw declining confidence toward down payment affordability, with only 35% of millennial first-time homebuyers claiming they can afford a down payment, according to ValueInsured, a Dallas-based down payment insurance company. This is down nine percentage points from a year ago.
But, varying homebuyer profiles showed mixed results toward down payment affordability.
Older homeowners, for example, were more secure than millennials or Gen-Xers in their ability to afford a down payment, in part, because they've had more time to save. Suburban homebuyers were also more positive than urban homebuyers about down payment affordability.
Regarding affordability sentiments, contrasting opinions between male and female homebuyers existed, as did discrepancies between borrowers putting different percentagesof money toward a down payment.
Financial concerns were particularly distinct in some of the nation's hottest housing markets, where house values have grown exceptionally high. And overall, 53% of people believed they could see another housing crisis in their lifetime, up from 37% from just a year ago.
From location and age to gender and price point, here's a look at how demographic differences influence homebuyer confidence about saving for a down payment.
The data is derived from ValueInsured's Housing Confidence Index, which is a mean of seven different consumer confidence measures. The components of the index are collected quarterly (on both a national and local scale) through the company's Modern Homebuyer survey, which is conducted by Equation Research on behalf of ValueInsured.