--- description: High housing prices, increased concerns about job stability and rising mortgage rates are deterring potential homebuyers title: There’s Never Been a Worse Time to Buy a Home, Poll Finds image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe659bc5340f0eb3/698a22334ee26251ed319de7/GettyImages-1232689959.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Economy](/tag/economy/) ## Economy Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # There’s Never Been a Worse Time to Buy a Home, Poll of U.S. Households Shows by [Alex Tanzi / Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Alex Tanzi / Bloomberg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 7, 2022 6:32 PM CUT  A sales center sign in front of a new residential community in Lithonia, Georgia, U.S., on Monday, April 26, 2021. A sales center sign in front of a new residential community in Lithonia, Georgia, U.S., on Monday, April 26, 2021.Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg—Getty Images by [Alex Tanzi / Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Alex Tanzi / Bloomberg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 7, 2022 6:32 PM CUT The share of Americans who say it’s a good time to buy a house hit an all-time low of 25% in a monthly Fannie Mae survey. The pandemic-era surge in U.S. housing prices, combined with increased concerns about job stability and rising mortgage rates, are deterring potential buyers from trying to purchase a home. “Younger consumers—more so than other groups—expect home prices to rise even further,” said Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae’s chief economist. “They also reported a greater sense of macroeconomic pessimism.” In the January survey, 69% of respondents said it’s a good time to sell, an all-time high in the series that dates back to 2010. The lack of affordable houses, made even more acute by the Covid-19 crisis, is hitting the younger generations the hardest. An analysis from Zillow Group Inc. showed that home prices are [rising the fastest](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-04/follow-the-kids-to-see-where-u-s-housing-boom-still-has-legs "undefined") in family-friendly suburbs, a trend that’s set to persist as a record number of millennials approach what’s traditionally been home-buying age for Americans. --- ### More from TIME --- And the rental market isn’t helping either. The Fannie Mae survey found that consumers expect rents to increase by a record this year. In spite of a surprisingly strong labor market in January, the share of respondents concerned about losing their job over the next 12 months rose to a 10-month high. And, for the eighth month, a majority of respondents think the U.S. economy is on the wrong track. The survey polled approximately 1,000 people via live telephone interviews between Jan. 1 and Jan. 24\. Most of the data was collection occurred during the first two weeks of this period. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6145812/us-home-buyers-fannie-mae-survey/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6145812/us-home-buyers-fannie-mae-survey/"},"headline":"There’s Never Been a Worse Time to Buy a Home, Poll of U.S. Households Shows","datePublished":"2022-02-07T18:32:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T10:47:46.966Z","description":"High housing prices, increased concerns about job stability and rising mortgage rates are deterring potential homebuyers","url":"https://time.com/6145812/us-home-buyers-fannie-mae-survey/","keywords":["Economy","wire","Londontime","biztech2030","bloomberg wire"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe659bc5340f0eb3/698a22334ee26251ed319de7/GettyImages-1232689959.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alex Tanzi / Bloomberg"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe659bc5340f0eb3/698a22334ee26251ed319de7/GettyImages-1232689959.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"U.S. houses","caption":"U.S. houses","creditText":"Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/economy/","name":"Economy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6145812/us-home-buyers-fannie-mae-survey/","name":"There’s Never Been a Worse Time to Buy a Home, Poll of U.S. Households Shows"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Olympics Will be the Ultimate Test for China's Zero-COVID Policy","description":"Hosting the Olympic Games is a daunting challenge during any year. 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