Home buying confidence has gone up since last year as more Americans begin to see now as a good time to purchase a home, according to data released Tuesday by TD Bank.
The bank's Third Annual Mortgage Service Index reported that 30% of Americans feel now is a "very good time" to buy a home, up 10 percentage points from 2014. Consumers' likelihood to purchase a home also rose this year to 29% from 21%, the company said in a press release.
Helping to fuel the confidence, millennials have become more confident in purchasing homes, according to the index. The survey found that half of millennials are very or extremely likely to purchase a home within the next year, while a third of them view now as a very good time to buy.
Despite this growing confidence, the report also found that barriers to buying a new home are still very much present for consumers. The index found that 40% of consumers believe there is a lack of inventory. A further 44% of people surveyed indicated a dearth of knowledge about affordability programs.
"The Mortgage Service Index found that only 28% of consumers are successfully using mortgage affordability programs, which demonstrates that a significant number of potential buyers may be missing the opportunity to purchase a home," said Malcolm Hollensteiner, director of retail lending sales and production for TD Bank, in the release. The study also found that 51% of participants wanted banks to offer more helpful information online.
Millennials are particularly affected by the lack of information, according to the results. A lack of knowledge regarding how to navigate the home financing process negatively affected 32% of millennials.
