Nearly one in five younger house hunters said they are willing to put their safety at risk to afford a home, in addition to other sacrifices such as access to healthcare services.
A new Redfin-commissioned survey found that 17.3% of house hunters surveyed said they are willing to consider purchasing a home in a high-risk area in exchange for affordable housing.
By generation, Gen Z respondents (23.7%) are most likely to trade safety for an affordable home. In comparison, only 18.1% of millennials, 17.5% of Gen Xers, and 5.5% of boomers said the same.
Other Trade-Offs
In addition to safety, nearly half of all survey respondents (41%) said they are willing to make a purchase in an area without access to healthcare amenities and services in order to afford a home.
Other trade-offs mentioned in the survey include being near dining options (36%), access to transportation (32%), racial or ethnic diversity in the community (32%), safety from fire or flood (28%), and access to quality schools (26%).
"Younger generations have come of age during a housing supply crunch, where prices are at all-time highs. Couple that with them earning less-relative to older generations-and you can see why they are willing to make more serious sacrifices to find a home they can afford," Redfin Senior Economist Elijah de la Campa said in the report.
"When the typical household earns less than is needed to buy or rent a typical home, house hunters can't afford not to make sacrifices."
House hunters seeking affordable homes also said they are willing to make work-related sacrifices, with 34% saying they would consider a longer commuting time while 27% said they would be willing to purchase a property without any space to work from home.
The Redfin-commissioned survey was conducted by Qualtrics in February 2024 and focused on 669 respondents who indicated plans to move to a new home in the next year.
As of June 2024, the median sale price of a home in the US was $442,451. That marks a 4.0% year-over-year increase. Mortgage rates have also remained elevated, with the contract rate for the 30-year term at 6.73% in the week ending Aug. 1, according to Freddie Mac.
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