Single home buyers have been suppressed for the past three years by restrictive mortgage lending standards, which favor dual-income households who are more likely to have higher credit scores,

The 2013 National Association of Realtors® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers continues a long-running series of large national NAR surveys evaluating the demographics, preferences, motivations, plans and experiences of recent home buyers and sellers; the series dates back to 1981. Results are representative of owner-occupants and do not include investors or vacation homes. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said tight credit continues to impact home buyer households. "Single home buyers have been suppressed for the past three years by restrictive mortgage lending standards, which favor dual-income households who are more likely to have higher credit scores," he said.


 "Not seen in this survey is the elevated level of investors in recent years. The housing recovery would have been much weaker without investors, who often purchase with cash." Sixty-six percent of buyers responding to the survey are married couples, 16 percent are single women, 9 percent single men, 7 percent unmarried couples and 2 percent other Although the housing market has shown a healthy recovery over the past two years, unnecessarily restrictive mortgage lending standards are preventing some financially qualified buyers from reaching their dreams, especially singles and first-time buyers, according to an annual study released today. . In 2010, 58 percent of buyers were married, 20 percent were single women, 12 percent single men and 7 percent unmarried couples.