COLUMBIA, Mo.
,
Jan. 18, 2023
/PRNewswire/ — Interest rate hikes and all-cash offers made homebuying challenging for service members and Veterans in the market last year, but most are optimistic about buying in 2023, according to a new national survey by
Veterans United Home Loans
, the nation’s largest VA lender.
Even with the rocky rate and affordability outlook, 30% of current service members and 15% of Veterans plan to buy a home in 2023. Looking further, nearly three quarters of current service members (71%) plan to buy a home in the next five years.
“Despite continuing challenges in the housing market, service members and Veterans feel they will be in a great position to buy this year,” said
Chris Birk
, vice president of mortgage insight at Veterans United. “A major reason why is their hard-earned VA loan benefit. Nearly 80 years later, this transformational benefit is still helping Veterans get a foothold in the housing market and create generational wealth.”
Key findings from the 2023 Service Member and Veteran Homebuyer Report include:
-
Current service members are most optimistic about homebuying.
About 1 in 3 current service members plan to buy a home in the next year, while only 15% of Veterans plan to buy. About 4 in 10 (43%) Reserve and National Guard military members expect to buy a home in the next 12 months. -
The VA loan levels the homebuying field for service members and Veterans. More than half of service members and Veterans (54%) currently have a VA home loan
and about 28% have used one in the past. The share of VA loans grew more than 2.6% between January and December of 2022. -
The option to buy with no down payment remains the No. 1 reason service members and Veterans choose the VA loan.
About 60% of service members and Veterans say zero down payment is the top reason for choosing their VA home loan benefit. -
About 90% of service members are aware of the VA home loan benefit.
Awareness is lowest among Reserve and National Guard members. More than a third of active duty members are aware of the VA home loan program through another active service member. However, the further away currently serving members are from a military base, the lower their benefit awareness. About 94% of active duty service members living less than 30 minutes from a base are aware of the benefit compared to 69% for those living more than three hours away.
Click here to read the full
2023 Service Member and Veteran Homebuyer Report
.
About Veterans United Home Loans
Based in
Columbia, Missouri
, the full-service national lender financed more than
$26 billion
in loans in Fiscal Year 2022 and is the country’s largest VA lender, according to the
Department of Veterans Affairs Lender Statistics
. The company
‘
s mission is to help Veterans and service members take advantage of the home loan benefits earned by their service.
VeteransUnited.com
| 1-800-884-5560 | 550 Veterans United Drive,
Columbia, MO
65201 | Veterans United Home Loans NMLS # 1907 (
www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org
). A VA approved lender; Not endorsed or sponsored by the Dept. of Veterans Affairs or any government agency. Licensed in all 50 states. For State Licensing information, please visit
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SOURCE Veterans United Home Loans
