It feels like a tough time to buy a house in America. Monthly housing payments are at an annual high, home prices are inching up, and mortgage rates are still around 6.5%.
In my years of reporting on the housing market, I’ve seen that mortgage purchase applications typically decrease when homebuyers consider mortgage rates to be high. So, I was surprised by the data in Bank of America’s 2026 Homebuyer Insights Report.
The report, conducted in a partnership with the Bank of America Institute, revealed that — for the first time since 2023 — most consumers think it’s better to buy a home in the current real estate market than to rent.
While 47% of surveyed participants preferred to rent or move in with family members, 53% thought buying was the better choice.
“The fact that a majority of Americans now believe it’s better to buy than to rent or move in with family marks the beginning of a positive homeownership sentiment shift,” Matt Vernon, Head of Consumer Lending at Bank of America, told TheStreet.
BofA finds that more Americans want to buy homes
The Bank of America survey reveals that sentiment toward buying a home is changing for the better. More people want to buy a house, even as rent prices decrease. Annual rent prices were down in Q1 2026, according to the Bank of America On the Move analysis.
But even though rent prices are easing, people still want to buy homes. Many are tired of waiting for the “perfect” time to buy a house. (Spoiler: There is no “perfect” time.)
In Bank of America’s 2025 survey, 75% of respondents said they were waiting for home prices and mortgage rates to decrease before buying. In 2026, that number has fallen to 71%, with millennials and Gen Z providing the biggest mindset shifts.
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The data also shows that people still consider buying a home to be a good way to spend their money, invest, and build wealth.
In 2025, 79% of respondents said they believed a home was a valuable investment, and 83% thought homeownership provided stability. In 2026, those percentages have increased to 90% and 94%, respectively.
More people are confident in their ability to purchase a home this year; the share has risen from 27% in 2025 to 32% in 2026.
“What we’re seeing is a renewed belief in homeownership as a long-term investment and a source of stability, and that belief is what ultimately gets people off the sidelines and into the market,” Vernon told TheStreet.
The lock-in effect is dwindling
You may have heard of the interest rate “lock-in effect.” It’s the trend of homeowners who locked in mortgage rates in the 3% range during the COVID-19 pandemic staying in their homes for longer. For the past few years, they haven’t wanted to resist moving and selling their houses, because they didn’t want to lose that super-low rate.
But the Bank of America report finds that the lock-in effect, while not completely gone, is finally cooling. The number of people willing to sell their home — even if it means obtaining a higher mortgage rate — has increased.
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- Mortgage rate news lands Americans in strange situation
They’re willing to do so to live in a more affordable area, move into their dream home, or settle down in what they consider to be a better location. The percentage of respondents willing to move for all three of these reasons has increased from 2024 and 2025.
This sentiment could have several benefits for the housing market. If people are willing to sell, then there is more inventory. Not only does this give homebuyers more choices, but higher inventory results in lower home prices.
Affordability is still the main barrier for homebuyers
More Americans want to buy a home, believe homeownership is a good wealth-building tool, and are done with waiting for a major market to change to buy. However, these sentiments don’t charge the harsh reality: Affordability is still a major burden for potential buyers.
Hopeful homebuyers still cite housing affordability as the main reason they aren’t buying yet. Of the Bank of America respondents, 58% said homes were too expensive, and 47% said mortgage loan rates were too high.
“Affordability remains the defining challenge of this market, and younger buyers in particular are getting creative to meet it, taking on extra work, exploring co-buying with friends or family, and tapping into assistance programs,” Vernon told TheStreet.
“What encourages me is that this generation is forging ahead on the path to homeownership and finding pragmatic solutions,” he said.
Related: Homebuyers use underrated strategy to outsmart housing market
