Obstacles to home buying by race/ethnicity in a post-COVID-19 market

Room 2 | 11:40 am - 12:10 pm | Tuesday, October 11, 2022

What are the obstacles all prospective home owners are facing to the American Dream of homeownership? Are there different obstacles for buyers of different racial or ethnic groups? NAR conducted a qualitative and quantitative study with new and prospective homeowners to find out and to explore ways that these obstacles might be addressed.

Eight online consumer focus groups were conducted: four with prospective home buyers and four with recent homebuyers. One group each of prospective and recent buyers were conducted with Black/African American consumers, Hispanic/Latino consumers, Asian American/Pacific Islander consumers, and consumers who identified as white/of European descent. Patterns and issues emerged from these groups that were then tested with a large-scale consumer survey, revealing obstacles for home buyers in general and specific obstacles for some of these racial and ethnic groups.

The results will be used to work toward increasing homeownership among racial populations with lower rates of homeownership so that all Americans will eventually have equal access to the American Dream.

Key Takeaways:

1. Americans of different racial or ethnic groups face different and unequal obstacles to homeownership.
2. Survey research is always deepened and illuminated by qualitative research done in advance.
3. Hypotheses developed via qualitative research and tested via a resulting survey can yield surprising results.

Topic(s) Covered:

• COVID-19/new consumer
• Customer experience
• Hybrid/mixed methods (qual, quant, mobile, SM)

Case Study Presentation by End-Client