Large share of renters plan on buying in 2022 — but will they be able to?

Among the large swath of renters looking to make a move in 2022, nearly 42% are planning to buy a home, according to a recent survey from Zumper. Whether they can or not may go a long way in defining the trajectory of rent prices this year.

A whopping 81.6% of renters responding to Zumper’s year-end 2021 survey indicated that they plan to move in 2022, prompting the rental website to perform a follow-up poll on such renters. Of renters planning to move this year, 41.7% said they intend on buying — a significant response since skyrocketing home prices are a key driver of similarly rising rents.

Soaring home values, of course, price out renters who would otherwise be leaving the rental market in favor of homeownership. Renters who wade into the buying pool usually have higher incomes relative to other renters, so when more of these renters are frozen out of homebuying and left in the rental market, it tends to push rent prices upward.

Thus, if the renters who are hoping to buy are able to do so, much of the upward pressure on rents would ease. That’s a big if, however, as housing demand remains strong and forecasts for home prices currently aren’t kind to first-time homebuyers. Zumper noted that Goldman Sachs, for example, projects home prices to rise another 16% in 2022. By Arnie Aurellano,

Website content editor, Scotsman Guide