Home affordability is so out of reach right now that two out of five Americans think they’d need to win the lottery to become homeowners.<br /><br />That’s according to a recent survey of 2,000 current non-homeowners, only 53% of whom are confident in any way that they’ll be able to own their own home someday. <br /><br />In addition to the 40% who think hitting a jackpot is their best chance at home ownership, one in four (26%) believe they’d need to inherit money from someone in order to ever own a home.<br /><br />One in five (19%) even said they’d have to marry someone rich.<br /><br />Overall, the average American thinks it would take them between three and four years to afford a home - and a third believe it would take them five years or more.<br /><br />Another 20% expect that they’ll never be able to afford one.<br /><br />Conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Divvy Homes, the survey also revealed that almost six in 10 (57%) non-homeowners would find it difficult to afford a house in their current neighborhood of residence. <br /><br />Despite that, 67% are still hopeful about the possibility of one day owning a home – more than five times as many as the number of people who actively described themselves as hopeless (12%). Another 19% describe themselves as frustrated and 11% feel desperate. <br /><br />The changes in market dynamics and rise in interest rates are weighing heavily on would-be buyers. While over half (52%) believe the current housing market is unstable, 46% believe that things will level out within the next two to five years. 17% feel the market will never return to stable, affordable levels. <br /><br />Respondents think they’d need to make an average of $76,000 a year to afford a starter home, and that they’d need at least $45,000 to afford a down payment on a starter home. Nearly half of respondents (44%) are willing to get a second job or side gig in order to get closer to their goal of homeownership.
