Renters Are Nearly Twice as Likely as Homeowners to Say Housing Affordability Impacts Their Pick for President: Survey
- 32% of surveyed renters say housing affordability is a top-three issue when it comes to deciding which presidential candidate they’ll support. That compares with 17% of homeowners.
- The economy, inflation and health care are the most common top-three issues for survey respondents as a whole.
- 52% of surveyed homeowners say they’re better off financially than they were four years ago, compared with 44% of renters.
Nearly one-third (31.6%) of U.S. renters say housing affordability is a top-three issue when it comes to which candidate they’ll support in the upcoming presidential election. That compares with 17.1% of homeowners.
The survey findings in this report are from a Redfin-commissioned survey conducted by Ipsos in September 2024. The survey was fielded to 894 U.S. renters and 805 U.S. homeowners aged 18-65. This report focuses on responses to the following question: “How important will each of these issues be in your choice of which candidate to support? Please rank, with 1 being the most important issue.” Respondents were asked to rank a list of 14 issues. If they ranked an issue 1, 2 or 3, it is considered a “top-three issue.”
Renters and homeowners answered similarly on most issues, but housing affordability was the exception.
The leading concern among respondents as a whole was the economy, with nearly half (46%) of all respondents listing it as a top-three issue. Next came inflation (40.4%), health care (26.3%), housing affordability (25.1%) and crime and safety (23.5%).
| Share of overall respondents who ranked it a top-three issue | Share of homeowners who ranked it a top-three issue | Share of renters who ranked it a top-three issue | |
| The economy | 46.0% | 49.4% | 43.7% |
| Inflation | 40.4% | 42.2% | 39.5% |
| Health care | 26.3% | 25.7% | 27.7% |
| Housing affordability | 25.1% | 17.1% | 31.6% |
| Crime and safety | 23.5% | 24.3% | 23.5% |
| Immigration | 21.6% | 25.1% | 18.7% |
| Protecting democracy | 20.5% | 22.5% | 19.8% |
| Gun violence | 15.8% | 15.8% | 15.3% |
| Access to abortion | 15.2% | 14.8% | 15.2% |
| Climate change | 13.5% | 15.0% | 12.9% |
| Freedom of speech | 11.7% | 11.8% | 10.4% |
| US’ standing in the world | 8.8% | 10.5% | 6.8% |
| US involvement in foreign wars | 8.1% | 9.0% | 7.1% |
| Access to gender affirming care | 3.6% | 3.9% | 3.1% |
Many Americans broke into homeownership during the pandemic thanks to record-low mortgage rates, but many others were priced out because housing prices surged due to sky-high demand. Now, elevated mortgage rates are exacerbating those high prices and making it difficult for first-time buyers to afford a home. That’s one reason renters are focused on housing affordability during this year’s election cycle, Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather explained. It’s worth noting that starter-home prices are lower than they were a year ago but remain well above pre-pandemic levels.
Just over half (52.1%) of surveyed homeowners said they’re better off financially than they were four years ago, compared with less than half (44.2%) of renters. That discrepancy is partly the result of soaring housing prices that helped homeowners build a lot of equity, Fairweather said.
Harris voters were slightly more likely than Trump voters to rank housing affordability as a top issue. One-quarter (25.1%) of respondents who plan to vote for Kamala Harris ranked housing affordability as a top-three issue, compared with 20.4% of respondents who plan to vote for Donald Trump. That’s likely because Democrats are more likely to live in expensive coastal areas.
The post Renters Are Nearly Twice as Likely as Homeowners to Say Housing Affordability Impacts Their Pick for President: Survey appeared first on Redfin Real Estate News.
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