In a new survey of 1,000 U.S. adults commissioned by Independent Lending, 70% said housing costs have forced them to delay or change at least one major life decision. Marriage, children, careers and even pets are being rescheduled around a purchase that keeps sliding further away.
The finding lands in a market where the typical first-time buyer is now 40 years old, the oldest on record according to the National Association of Realtors. It echoes what Harris Poll research for Coldwell Banker found among aspiring homeowners last year. The delay itself is no longer news to anyone living it.
What's new is where respondents point the finger. Asked who bears the most responsibility for the affordability crisis, 38% named the federal government, while the explanation housing economists cite most, restrictive zoning, drew just 10%. The public and the experts are working from different diagnoses, and any proposed fix has to contend with that gap before it can contend with prices.
Key findings
- 70% of adults surveyed have delayed or changed a major life decision because of housing costs
- 12% have turned down or avoided a job that would have required relocating
- 63% are not confident they can buy a home within the next two years
- 30% don't expect to ever own a home, and 73% see homeownership as distant or impossible
- 69% have cut back on something to save for a home
- 60% say housing affordability is a significant or enormous source of financial stress, rising to 71% among parents with children under 18
- 38% hold the federal government most responsible for the affordability crisis, while explanations favored by housing economists barely register
The most common response is staying put
Independent Lending
When housing costs collide with life plans, the result is usually inertia rather than a dramatic pivot. The single most common consequence in the survey: 37% of respondents have stayed in a living situation they’re unhappy with because moving costs too much.
Another 25% have moved in with family or friends to save money. And 15% decided against getting a pet because of housing restrictions or costs, a small decision that says something large about how thoroughly rent and home prices now govern daily choices.
This is part of why the life-plan freeze gets less coverage than price charts do. A canceled move doesn't show up in transaction data. Someone staying in an apartment they've outgrown looks, from the outside, like stability.
Housing costs are quietly taxing the labor market
Independent Lending
One in eight respondents, 12%, have turned down or avoided a job that would have required relocating, specifically because of housing costs.
That's a job-market problem wearing a housing costume. Workers who can't afford to move can't chase better wages, and employers in expensive metros lose access to candidates who would otherwise come. Add the 25% who moved in with family or friends, and housing costs are visibly redrawing the map of where people can live and work.
Confidence has collapsed, and not where you’d expect
Independent Lending
Asked how confident they are about buying a home within the next two years, 63% of respondents say they are not very confident (28%) or not confident at all (35%). Just 12% call themselves very confident.
Few splits in the data run wider. Among White respondents (n=521), 73% lack confidence in buying within two years. Among Black respondents (n=276), the figure is 47%, a 26-point difference. The survey measured confidence, not the reasons behind it, but the size of the split stands out in a dataset where most demographic differences run far narrower.
For nearly a third, the timeline now ends at never
Independent Lending
Asked at what age they realistically expect to buy their first home, 30% of respondents answered that they don't expect to ever own one. Another 43% expect to buy at 41 or later. Combined, 73% see homeownership as either distant or out of reach entirely. Only 6% expect to buy before 30.
The share saying never climbs with age: 42% of Gen X respondents don't expect to ever own, against 20% of Millennials. Each year of waiting appears to harden into expectation. NAR's record-high first-time buyer age of 40 gives that expectation a real-world anchor.
Saving for a home means cutting into the present
Independent Lending
Chasing a down payment has a price of its own. Fully 69% of respondents have cut back on or delayed something to save for a home. The most common sacrifices are the extras: dining out or entertainment (43%), travel or vacations (39%) and buying or replacing a vehicle (30%).
The strain shows. Sixty percent say the housing affordability crisis has affected their financial stress significantly or enormously over the past year, and 29% call it one of the biggest sources of stress in their life. Parents carry the heaviest load: Among respondents with children under 18, 71% report significant or enormous stress, compared with 50% of those with adult children living in the home.
The public blames Washington. Economists mostly don’t.
Independent Lending
Respondents were told that Federal Housing Finance Agency data shows U.S. home prices rose approximately 61% from late 2019 through early 2026, then asked who they hold most responsible. The single largest share, 38%, named the federal government. The ordering holds across income groups, with the federal government drawing between 38% and 39% in every income band large enough to report.
The explanations housing economists most often cite sit near the bottom of the list:
- State and local governments and zoning policies: 10%
- Real estate developers: 6%
- Wall Street and institutional buyers: 6%
- The Federal Reserve: 4%
- Homeowners who oppose new construction: 4%
Combined, all five drew 29%, less than the federal government alone. Another 34% declined to single anyone out, choosing "multiple groups equally."
That ordering runs against other recent polling. The America First Policy Institute's January 2026 housing survey asked voters to rank six groups by responsibility, a different question format. State and local government bureaucrats came out on top: 28% ranked them first, the highest of any group tested. The public's diagnosis and the policy debate aren't happening in the same room. Any durable fix will have to close that gap first.
Summary
The American Dream of homeownership hasn't been abandoned. It's been rescheduled, and for a growing share of people, indefinitely. Seven in 10 adults surveyed are living some version of a postponed life: the apartment they've outgrown, the job they didn't take.
What the data captures is a generation of decisions being made in the waiting room. People are still cutting back and still organizing their lives around a purchase they may never complete. That persistence is its own finding.
The desire to own hasn't dimmed nearly as much as the belief that owning is possible, and the distance between those two things is where the next chapter of this story will be written.
Methodology
To understand how Americans approach homeownership in today's market, Independent Lending surveyed 1,000 adults across the country via Pollfish in August 2026. Participants answered questions about how housing costs have shaped their life decisions, savings habits, stress levels and expectations around buying a home. Responses were analyzed by demographic groups to identify trends and disparities. The sample is 69.5% female and skews lower-income, with 45% reporting household income under $25,000. Findings represent survey respondents rather than a weighted general-population benchmark.
This story was produced by Independent Lending and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
