According to a recent survey by Realtor.com®, their biggest concern is putting their current home on the market before finding a new one. about a third of sellers in February were concerned about finding a new home they could afford.

These insights are based on a series of surveys of between 2,400 and 3,000 visitors to Realtor.com over a three-month period. This report only includes responses from visitors who are homeowners, including both active and potential sellers.

"Sellers may not want to buy first, but in reality, they may need to sell first to get the cash for their next purchase. They may need a larger down payment to control the size of their mortgage, as mortgage rates are too high," said Jiayi Xu, an economist at Realtor.com. The more they put down, the lower their mortgage payments will be.

Many homeowners who could have traded up to a bigger, better home or downsized to a smaller home are reluctant to sell and give up their record low mortgage rates. According to the latest figures from Realtor.com, this resulted in about a fifth fewer new homes coming on the market in April than a year ago, exacerbating the housing shortage.

Since many homeowners either bought their properties at lower rates or refinanced during the COVID-19 pandemic, when rates dropped to around 2 per cent, they are understandably reluctant to buy at today's rate levels of around 6 per cent. This is the main economic reason that has prevented homeowners from listing their homes since 2022.

Sellers are also worried about the state of the housing market. While it is still not a buyer's market, the days of homes selling soon after they hit the market and buyers giving up all conditions appear to be over. in February, about one in five homeowners said they were concerned that buyer demand in their area was slowing and that sellers were not receiving good offers. That's more than double the concern expressed by potential sellers a year ago.

"A lot of sellers want to wait until home prices go higher again," Xu said." Given all the uncertainty in the housing market, I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon."

Other concerns include the work and costs involved in getting their homes ready for the market. Rising costs due to high inflation are a particular concern.

"A lot of people overlook the cost of repairing their homes and getting them ready for the market," says Xu." The costs are much higher than they were at the same time last year."