Half of new Pennsylvania homebuyers are finding their home in less than three months, according to the Welcome Home survey conducted quarterly for the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors® (PAR). Seventy-five percent of buyers said the process took less than six months from the time they began searching for a home until the transaction closed.
“The current real estate market is creating some pressure on buyers to make an offer on a home more quickly and to make higher offers to ensure they get the home they want,” says Todd Umbenhauer, president of PAR. “With the challenging inventory situation many markets throughout the state are facing, buyers do have to make decisions in a shorter amount of time.”
The survey showed that location is a key factor for many homebuyers.
“We saw 34 percent of new homebuyers chose their home because of location, whether that was what they deemed a ‘good neighborhood,’ proximity to schools, or easy travel to work,” Umbenhauer says. “Buyers over 65 focused more on interior features of a home and were driven by considerations like finding a home with one floor or a master bedroom on the ground floor.”
Pennsylvania homebuyers are sticking to traditional local banks and credit unions to get a mortgage. Thirty-five percent of new homebuyers used a local bank or credit union, while 27 percent used a mortgage broker. Only 6 percent of new buyers used an online-based lending company.
“The Welcome Home survey has shown consistently that Pennsylvania homebuyers choose a 30-year mortgage to purchase their home,” says Umbenhauer. “In fact, 49 percent of buyers under the age of 50 used a 30-year mortgage. Thirty-three percent of buyers over the age of 50 use cash to buy their home.”
Source: Pennsylvania Association of Realtors®
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