As more older homeowners are indicating that they plan to age in place, the lack of available homes for purchase will continue to impact younger prospective homebuyers. 

In fact, according to new data from the National Association of Homebuilders, only 20% of prospective homebuyers expect the search for a home to ease up in the coming months. In the same time period last year (2nd quarter of 2018), 21% thought the same thing, meaning the perceived lack of inventory has not improved in the last year. 

Generationally, only 10% of seniors think the search for a home will get easier. Meanwhile, only 20% of Millennials, 21% of Baby Boomers and 21% of Gen Xers think the search will get easier in the next few months. 

Regionally, 17% of prospective homebuyers in the Midwest think buying a house will be easier, compared to 19% in the Northeast, 21% in the West and 22% in the South. 

The availability and affordability of homes per region are also an underlying factor to realizing when and where is the best to search for a new home. 

In Q2 of 2019, 27% of prospective homebuyers said they saw more homes available for sale that they like and can afford, and 59% said they saw fewer or the same amount of homes they like available. This could be due to the fact that price of construction materials went up 0.7% in July, NAHB cited from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Only 12% of Americans are prospective homebuyers, according to the Q2 study from the NAHB..