Most millennials open to asking Alexa for a mortgage: PwC

A slim majority of younger consumers showed an interest in using a voice assistant like Alexa in the mortgage process, according to PriceWaterhouseCoopers' 2019 Home Lending Experience Radar report.

When asked whether there was a strong likelihood they would use voice-response technology to help complete a loan application, 51% of consumers between 18 and 34 years old said that there was.

The share of consumers in the 35-54 age range who gave the same response was 40% and the share of consumers in the 55 or older age range was 21%.

More than 40% of all recent and prospective homebuyers surveyed for the report would consider having technology companies like Google or Amazon as mortgage providers.

And the majority of all respondents have used a laptop or personal computer to complete front-end steps in the loan process like researching loan types and rates.

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But when it comes to completing steps farther along in the process, such as signing documents or paying upfront costs, the majority of respondents continue to want to complete these in person.

PwC's report is based on a fourth-quarter 2018 survey of 1,500 recent and prospective homebuyers across the United States, reflecting a population of real estate purchasers that, on average, is older and wealthier than the average U.S. consumer.

Among considerations mortgage lenders take into account in deciding whether to add voice assistants to their process include information security, the effectiveness and efficiency in the communication involved, and the cost of the technology at a time when profitability has been strained.