Survey: One in six aspiring homeowners have given up in the last five years

By Jeff Ostrowski, Bankrate.com

Home prices remain near record highs. Mortgage rates have retreated but remain well above their pandemic lows. Add it up, and homebuyers are feeling discouraged.

With housing affordability squeezing buyers, one in six (16%) of aspiring homebuyers have given up on purchasing a home in the past five years because they could not find anything they liked or could afford, according to a new Bankrate survey. Nearly 3 in 10 (28%) aspiring homeowners said the price of a home in their area was the most important issue when deciding whether to purchase a home. That’s in spite of a broad desire for homeownership — the vast majority of U.S. adults still consider owning a home a linchpin of the American dream, according to Bankrate’s 2025 Home Affordability Survey