Every home search begins with a signal.
A saved filter.
A bookmarked listing.
A late-night scroll through neighborhoods hundreds of miles away.
These small actions reveal what buyers are considering before they ever book a tour, contact an agent, or make an offer.
Houzeo analyzed more than 1,500 buyer actions between January and September 2026 to understand today’s digital home shoppers and prepare this home buyer report. The study examined 881 saved property searches and 656 favorites collections created by more than 900 Houzeo users exploring homes across 51 U.S. states and territories. The picture that emerges highlights several patterns among Houzeo’s digital home-shopping audience.
The busiest hours for home-search activity fall outside traditional business hours, with the highest activity occurring after midnight.
And the platforms, agents, and builders still optimizing for a 3-bed/2-bath suburban buyer searching at 10 a.m. on a weekday may be working for a buyer who no longer exists.
Key Takeaways
- 71.5% of property-type selections are for non-single-family housing. Townhouses, multi-family, manufactured homes, condos, and land represent a significant share of Houzeo user search preferences.
- 70% of bedroom-specified searches target 2- or 3-bedroom homes. NAR’s home buyer report says that buyers now want roughly 200 sq ft less than they did two decades ago, and builders are responding by constructing smaller starter homes.
- 57% of all Houzeo search activity happens after 6pm. 29% happens between midnight and 6am. The pattern holds across both saved searches and favorites. The busiest search day is Sunday; the busiest favorites day is Friday.
- 55% of favorites collections contain exactly one property, truly a “dream home”: a “this is the one” bookmark rather than a browsing folder. At the other extreme, power users create 10-17 city-specific collections, methodically comparing neighborhoods.
- 92% of searches include pending listings, meaning buyers are actively monitoring homes under contract; positioning for backup offers or tracking market pricing signals.
This home buyer report explores the early signals behind the modern home search journey: the properties buyers consider, the markets they explore, and the listings that capture their attention.
Beyond the Single-Family Home: How Buyers Are Expanding Their Search
Single-family homes lead individual property-type selections at 28.5%.
However, many Houzeo users select multiple property types. This shows that today’s digital home shoppers often explore more than one housing category. When you look at the full distribution, 71.5% of all property-type selections go to alternatives:
- Townhouses: 17.5%
- Multi-family: 16.6%
- Condominiums: 14.6%
- Manufactured homes: 14.0%
- Land: 8.8%
This does not indicate that users are abandoning single-family homes. It just isn’t the only player on the field anymore.
These first-saved searches show that many Houzeo users begin their home search by considering multiple housing categories. And, it tracks with a broader national shift.
According to NAR’s 2025 home buyer report, detached single-family homes accounted for 75% of actual purchases, down from 82% in 2022.[1] It’s a broader sign that buyers are considering a wider range of housing options.
A 2025 REsimpli survey also found that 67% of respondents believe modular and small homes will become mainstream, a sentiment Houzeo’s search data appears to confirm in real time.[2]
The land searches (8.8%) are particularly telling. A buyer filtering for raw land may indicate interest in “build-your-own” opportunities, investment possibilities, or alternative paths to ownership. Aspiring home buyers are willing to go through construction rather than competing in the resale market.
Affordability Is Bringing Manufactured Homes Into Focus
The manufactured housing interest is well-timed. In February 2026, the median listing price for a manufactured home was approximately $141,450 compared to $410,000 for a single-family home.[3] The monthly principal and interest runs roughly $678 versus $1,918.
Meanwhile, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, signed into law in July 2026, removed the requirement for manufactured homes to be built on a permanent steel chassis, further reducing costs and expanding design options. [4]
Turns out, “home sweet home” doesn’t always need a giant driveway and a two-car garage. Sometimes, it’s having a home payment that doesn’t ruin your entire monthly budget.
Why Two and Three Bedrooms Dominate Buyer Searches
Bedroom preferences cluster tightly around a compact range:
- 2-bedroom and 3-bedroom searches are tied at ~120 each, together representing 70% of all bedroom-specified searches
- 1-bedroom searches (37) suggest a condo, investment, or starter-buyer segment
- 4+ bedroom demand accounts for only 10%
Smaller Homes, More Practical Choices
This aligns with a national trend toward smaller homes. According to NAR, buyers wanted a median of 2,067 square feet in 2023; about 200 square feet less than two decades ago.[5] NAR Deputy Chief Economist Jessica Lautz noted that buyers may genuinely want two-bedroom, one-bath homes, and builders are starting to build smaller properties in response.
The NAHB reports that homebuilders are increasingly dependent on starter-home demand, with first-time buyers representing roughly 40% of new home sales annually but starter inventory remains scarce.[6]
Favorites collection names reinforce that buyers are actively seeking compact configurations:
- “2bd, 1bath houses”
- “$400,000 Max – 2 bed – 1.5 bath”
- “Ramonas small homes”
- “One level homes”
The Midnight House Hunter: When Buyers Browse Homes
One of the most striking and most consistent patterns in the data is when buyers are active.
The pattern holds across both saved searches and favorites, making it one of the strongest findings in the dataset:
| Time Slot | Saved Searches | Favorites | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evening (6pm–12am) | 32.1% | 28.6% | 30.5% |
| Night (12am–6am) | 25.3% | 33.0% | 28.7% |
| Morning (6am–12pm) | 13.8% | 24.4% | 18.6% |
| Afternoon (12pm–6pm) | 28.8% | 13.9% | 22.2% |
Nearly 6 in 10 actions happen after 6pm, and nearly 3 in 10 happen between midnight and 6am. This timing suggests that many Houzeo users explore homes outside traditional business hours, when they have more opportunity to browse listings.
The busiest day for saved searches is Sunday (156 searches); the busiest day for favorites is Friday (105 collections).
Saturday is the quietest. It’s a day traditionally associated with open houses but apparently the least active for online discovery.
The After-Hours Search Window: Why Timing Matters for the Industry
This finding runs counter to data from larger portals. A Redfin analysis found peak traffic at 10 a.m. on Fridays, with users most active during typical 9-to-5 business hours.
The divergence likely reflects a difference in buyer demographics: Redfin’s user base skews toward desktop-browsing professionals, while Houzeo’s platform, which is both for prospective home shoppers and flat-fee MLS listing seeking home sellers, may attract a different segment of digital home shoppers whose search patterns differ from larger portal audiences. The contrast underscores that different buyer segments have fundamentally different search rhythms.[7]
For agents, listing platforms, and marketing teams, the implication is clear: the “golden hours” for reaching Houzeo’s buyer base aren’t 9-to-5. They’re 6pm to 2am.
What Favorites Reveal About Buyer Psychology
The 656 favorites collections add a behavioral layer that search filters can’t capture: how buyers organize their intent.
55% of all collections contain exactly one property.
These are “this is the one” bookmarks: a buyer saw a listing and saved it immediately, without building a comparison set. Only 7.3% of collections hold 20+ properties (the deep browsers). The buyer population splits into two clear modes: decisive savers and methodical explorers.
The methodical explorers are revealing.
One Bay Area buyer created 17 separate city-named collections across the San Francisco Peninsula and East Bay (Mountain View, Redwood City, Oakland, Menlo Park, Berkeley, Palo Alto, and more), each with 1 to 3 properties. It’s literally a systematic city-by-city comparison strategy.
Another buyer did the same across 10 Orange County cities.
A third went national: 9 collections across 9 different states (TX, TN, IN, NV, NC, CA, MO, MT, WV), comparing markets coast to coast.
From Dream Homes to Investment Calculations
74% of collections are custom-named (vs. the default “Inquiries” name of collections). These names reveal emotional and aspirational framing invisible in search data:
- Dream-state Language: “manifesting,” “wishful thinking,” “my forever home,” “new beginnings,” “future home 2027,” “where to next?,” “dream homes,” “my fav dream home”
- Pragmatic Language: “move in ready,” “fixer uppers,” “cheap homes,” “under 200k,” “250k and under,” “Iowa Under $50,000”
- Life-Stage Signals: “my retirement home,” “parents,” “nana houses,” “family,” “Me and my boyfriend,” “only husband and me in 2027”
- Investment intent: “fix and flip,” “flips,” “wholesale real estate,” “investment property search,” “2026 multi family,” “sold comps,” “Ormewood comps,” “prospective flip”
- Multilingual reach: Spanish-language collection names like “nueva vida,” “favoritas,” “casas,” “selección,” and “mudanza 2026” suggest Houzeo’s platform is reaching buyers beyond English-dominant audiences
The investor segment, visible only in favorites, represents a distinct cohort that uses Houzeo’s listing data for flipping, wholesaling, and comp analysis rather than primary-residence shopping.
All in all, real estate remains wonderfully balanced: one person sees a future, another sees a margin. Romance is alive, just with spreadsheets.
Why Buyers Keep Watching Homes They Cannot Buy Yet
92.4% of all searches include sale pending listings alongside active inventory.
Apparently, “pending” doesn’t mean “move on.” It means “watch closely and hope something goes wrong.”
Buyers aren’t just browsing what’s available. They’re monitoring homes already under contract, positioning for backup offers or tracking pricing signals.
The favorites data shows a related behavior: collections named “sold comps” and “Ormewood comps” indicate buyers (likely investors) tracking closed and pending transactions to calibrate their own offers.
The majority of Houzeo buyers understand that in a competitive market, a pending listing isn’t a closed deal. And, a sold listing is market intelligence.
Beyond Square Footage: The Rise of Lifestyle-Driven Searches
The most popular lifestyle-oriented sale-type filter in the dataset isn’t “luxury” or “new construction.” It’s “tiny homes,” with 51 searches. The full breakdown reveals a buyer segment shopping for a way of life, not just a roof:
| Sale Type Filter | Searches |
|---|---|
| Cheap homes | 55 |
| Tiny homes | 51 |
| Historic | 29 |
| Cabins | 28 |
| New construction | 24 |
| Ranch | 17 |
| Duplex | 15 |
| Modern/contemporary | 13 |
| Farms | 10 |
| Farmhouse | 10 |
| Victorian | 8 |
| Country homes | 8 |
Free-text search keywords reinforce this: “log” homes (searched 3 times), “RV parking,” “rural, vintage home with privacy,” “mountains of nc,” “unrestricted, no deed restrictions,” “forested, vintage, rural,” and “fixer-upper.”
Buyers Are Searching for a Lifestyle, Not Just a Property
The favorites data adds texture. Collection names like “Bargon tiny,” “Ramonas small homes,” “GA farm house,” “Single floor ranches,” and “🌹🖤🌹 OLDER SOUTHERN STYLE” show buyers self-identifying with specific lifestyle archetypes.
Houzeo buyers are not just filtering by property type but emotionally organizing their search around a vision. This mirrors a documented global trend.
According to Mordor Intelligence, the tiny homes market is projected to grow from $1.36 billion in 2025 to $1.79 billion by 2031, driven by an affordability gap where median home prices now exceed 8.2 times median household income across OECD economies.[8]
With remote work stabilized at 28% of U.S. full-time employees, buyers are increasingly free to site homes on lower-cost rural parcels, a pattern clearly visible in Houzeo’s data.
The Sun Belt Magnet: Where Buyers Are Searching
The geographic distribution of searches tracks closely with national migration data, but the city-level detail adds granularity.
Top 12 states by search volume:
| Rank | State | Searches | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florida | 104 | 13.1% |
| 2 | Texas | 65 | 8.2% |
| 3 | North Carolina | 45 | 5.7% |
| 4 | Georgia | 41 | 5.2% |
| 5 | Tennessee | 38 | 4.8% |
| 6 | California | 34 | 4.3% |
| 7 | Puerto Rico | 31 | 3.9% |
| 8 | Arizona | 31 | 3.9% |
| 9 | New York | 30 | 3.8% |
| 10 | New Jersey | 25 | 3.1% |
| 11 | Missouri | 24 | 3.0% |
| 12 | Ohio | 23 | 2.9% |
Florida alone accounts for one in eight searches.
Texas’s strength is concentrated in San Antonio, the most-searched city in the dataset at 11 searches. Houston is picking up additional volume.
North Carolina interest is spread across smaller markets like Raleigh, Southport, Thomasville, Mills River, and Black Mountain, suggesting buyers are targeting the state’s secondary and rural communities rather than just Charlotte.
Search Patterns Mirror Migration Trends
Houzeo’s geographic distribution closely mirrors national migration data. According to U.S. Census Bureau data analyzed by Apartments.com, Texas led the nation in 2026 net renter migration gains, followed by Florida and North Carolina; the same top-three order seen in Houzeo’s search data.[9]
Opendoor’s 2026 migration analysis estimates Texas added roughly 175,000 net domestic migrants in 2025, Florida added 130,000, and North Carolina added 95,000.[10] NAR’s 2025 survey found that 45% of interstate movers cited affordability as their primary reason for relocating, up from 38% in 2022.
Georgia’s rise to #4 tracks a documented trend. Opendoor estimates Georgia gained 48,000 net domestic migrants, with Metro Atlanta remaining a major draw. The state’s median home value near $310,000, 2.8% job growth, and flat 5.39% income tax make it one of the strongest Sun Belt value propositions.[11]
The favorites data confirms the geographic pattern with added specificity:
- One South Florida buyer created 6 separate collections across Wellington, Melbourne, Boca Pointe, Deerfield Beach, Delray Beach, and Coral Springs.
- Another house hunter maintained 5 collections across Houston and Spring, Texas.
These aren’t casual browsers; they’re buyers methodically comparing neighborhoods within their chosen markets.
The Puerto Rico signal deserves special attention: 31 searches from 25 unique buyers puts PR at #7, ahead of New Jersey, Missouri, and Illinois. In the July to September data, Puerto Rico ranks #5 nationally, and its share is growing.
Favorites data adds further evidence, with collections named “PR HOMES,” “2026 Puerto Rico CJB,” “cabo rojo home 1,” and “puerto rico.”
Several factors may contribute to Puerto Rico’s appearance in Houzeo search activity. Puerto Rico has received attention from mainland buyers for several reasons, including lifestyle, affordability, and tax policies. Under Puerto Rico’s Act 60 Incentives Code, individual resident investors can still access some of the most favorable tax treatment in any U.S. jurisdiction, including significantly reduced taxes on capital gains, interest, and dividends.
The program was recently extended through 2055. Starting in 2026, new applicants pay a 4% rate on passive income (up from 0%), but this remains far below mainland federal rates.[12]
Comfort Over Luxury: The Features Driving Home Searches
When buyers activate feature filters, their priorities reflect where they’re looking and how they want to live:
| Feature | Searches |
|---|---|
| Air conditioning | 87 |
| Washer-dryer | 40 |
| Fireplace | 32 |
| Basement | 30 |
| Spotlight (Houzeo Exclusives) | 28 |
| Pool | 27 |
| Backyard | 26 |
| Single-story | 26 |
| Porch | 22 |
| Patio | 18 |
| Fixer-upper | 13 |
| Guest house | 11 |
| 55+ community | 10 |
Air conditioning tops the list by a wide margin, consistent with the Florida-Texas-Arizona geographic skew. Single-story demand (26 searches) combined with 55+ community filters (10 searches) points to an active downsizer and retirement segment.
Zillow’s 2024 buyer research found that 83% of buyers considered air conditioning very or extremely important, making it the highest-ranked home characteristic in its survey.[13] Another 70% placed the same importance on having private outdoor space, such as a patio, deck, or yard.
Single-story demand on Houzeo (26 searches), combined with 55+ community filters (10 searches), also suggests a downsizer and retirement-oriented segment. Even the broader housing market is moving in a similar direction.
NAHB found that the share of newly built single-family homes with one story increased from 47.5% in 2024 to 48.6% in 2025, while its buyer-preference research shows boomers favoring smaller homes than younger generations.[14]
Another 28 searches specifically filtered for “Spotlight” listings, the Houzeo Exclusives, properties listed via Houzeo’s Flat Fee MLS listing service. This shows that some users are using platform-specific discovery signals to narrow down MLS-listed inventory.
Search Filters Reveal Emotional Priorities
The favorites data surfaces a detail search filters can’t: emotional prioritization. Collection names like “Pool and fireplace!!!” and “with basement” show buyers organizing homes around the amenity that matters most to them. This fits a broader shift toward buyers prioritizing livability and features over sheer size.
NAHB found that 52% of millennial buyers would prefer a smaller home with higher-quality products and amenities over a larger home with fewer amenities. Builders are responding too: 68% of new homes included porches and 64% included patios in NAHB’s 2025 analysis.[15]
Not the city or the price. Sometimes a specific amenity like a patio or a pool could make or break the deal.
The Buying Season That Refused to Slow Down
Monthly search volume reveals an unusual seasonal pattern:
| Month | Searches | Favorites | Total Activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 69 | 19 | 88 |
| February | 71 | 34 | 105 |
| March | 146 | 88 | 234 |
| April | 143 | 75 | 218 |
| May | 117 | 80 | 197 |
| June | 130 | 82 | 212 |
| July | 90 | 66 | 156 |
| August | 98 | 142 | 240 |
Searches doubled from February to March, marking the classic spring-market ramp-up. But instead of the traditional summer drop-off, combined activity held between 156 and 240 data points per month from May through August in this home buyer report.
The August favorites surge (142 collections; the highest month in the dataset) is particularly striking: even as new search creation dipped in summer, buyers were actively saving and bookmarking listings at a higher rate than any other month.
NAR reports that roughly 40% of annual existing-home sales close between May and August, confirming the sustained summer window. RISMedia noted that the first half of 2026 performed better year-over-year compared to 2025, with NAR’s Nadia Evangelou describing the momentum as “promising” and “encouraging.” [16] [17]
The publication also described “boomlets”, bursts of buyer activity triggered by dips in mortgage rates, independent of traditional seasonality, which may explain the August favorites spike.
How Buyers Organize Their Home Search
While analyzing this home buyer report, we found several behavioral that patterns round out the picture:
80% of search buyers save just one search: they know what they want and set a precise alert.
Another 15% save 2-3 searches, and 4% are power users with 4+ saved searches, often spanning multiple states. In favorites, the pattern is similar: most users create 1-2 collections, while 70 users (14%) maintain multiple folders.
13 house hunters are actively comparing across multiple states, signaling relocation. The favorites data surfaces even more cross-state behavior: one buyer maintains collections for Texas, Kansas, Illinois, and “out of state.” Another buyer is comparing Florida, Montana, Idaho, Colorado, and New Mexico! A five-state search spanning coasts and climate zones.
85% of searches use the “Homes for You” default sort of Houzeo. But 9.1% override to sort by “price: low to high,” the second most popular option, reflecting a budget-conscious segment.
97.7% of searches are web-based (vs. app), and 96% choose daily notification alerts. NAR’s home buyer report states that 100% of home buyers used the internet during their search process in 2023, with 43% saying their first step was looking for properties online and 52% ultimately purchasing a home they found on the internet.[18]
Houzeo’s near-universal web usage and daily-alert adoption suggest a buyer base at the high end of digital engagement intensity.
What This Data Reveals About the Future of Home Search
This analysis arrives at a moment of documented strain in the U.S. housing market.
NAR’s 2025 Profile found that first-time buyers have dropped to a historic low of just 21% of the market, the lowest since 1981. The median first-time buyer age rose to a record 40. Repeat buyers now make up 79% of all purchases, often with larger down payments and all-cash offers. Mortgage rates remain elevated and volatile, with the 30-year fixed rate hovering near 6.7%-6.9% through mid-2026. [19] [20]
Against that backdrop, Houzeo’s buyer base offers a window into how a specific and growing segment is adapting. The patterns are clear:
1. Housing Type Flexibility is the New Norm
The single-family home hasn’t been dethroned, but it’s now one option among many. When over 70% of property-type selections go to alternatives, the industry needs to treat townhouses, manufactured homes, condos, and multi-family as primary demand, not consolation prizes.
2. Lifestyle is Driving Geography
The Sun Belt migration is well-documented, but this data shows it extending into secondary and rural markets, and increasingly into Puerto Rico. Buyers aren’t just chasing lower costs; they’re chasing a different way of living. Collection names like “Born in Florida,” “Why Tennessee,” “Next Adventure,” and “nueva vida” tell this story in the buyers’ own words.
3. The Search Happens After Dark
Across 1,500+ data points, the finding is consistent: more than half of buyer activity occurs after 6pm, and nearly a third happens between midnight and 6am. Platforms, agents, and listing strategies can use these patterns to better understand when digital home shoppers are most engaged.
4. The Buying Season is Getting Longer
The traditional spring surge happened on schedule, but the summer drop-off didn’t. July and August 2026 maintained a steady baseline, and August favorites activity hit its highest point of the year.
Houzeo users show structured search behavior while also revealing emotional preferences. They monitor pending listings, filter for platform exclusives, and set precise parameters. But they also name their folders “manifesting” and “wishful thinking” and “my forever home.” The data in Houzeo’s home buyer report reveals a buyer who is simultaneously pragmatic and aspirational, a combination the industry often underestimates.
The buyers are here.
They know what they want.
The question is whether the industry is meeting them where and when they’re looking.
Note: As with any home buyer report based on behavioral data, these findings represent patterns among Houzeo’s digital home-shopping audience rather than a national survey of all buyers.
Home Buyer Report Methodology and Limitations
The analysis in this home buyer report is based on anonymized and aggregated activity from a sample set of Houzeo users between January 1 and September 1, 2026. The dataset includes 881 saved property searches and 656 favorites collections. Saved searches reflect user-selected preferences such as location, property type, price range, and features. Favorites collections reflect listings users bookmarked and organized during their search journey. This study uses anonymized, aggregated platform data analyzed in accordance with Houzeo’s Privacy Policy, which authorizes the use of user data for trend identification, research, and marketing purposes. No individual users are identified, and no personal information is disclosed. The findings represent behavior among Houzeo’s digital home-shopping audience and should not be interpreted as a national survey of all U.S. home buyers. The data identifies search behavior and preferences but does not reveal individual motivations behind those actions.
2026 Houzeo Home Buyer Report Sources
All industry sources referenced in this home buyer study are listed here:
- NAR, 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers
- REsimpli, “70+ First-Time Homebuyer Stats” (2025)
- Cove Communities, “2026 Manufactured Home Trends” (June 2026)
- NerdWallet, “Types of Homes: A Guide for Buyers” (July 2026)
- NAR, “New Homes Are Getting Smaller” (January 2025)
- NAHB, “Affordability Headwinds Driving Home Buyers’ Interest in Smaller, More Personalized Homes” (February 2025)
- Redfin, “House Hunting at Work: The Most Popular Time to Search for Homes” (2022)
- Mordor Intelligence, “Tiny Homes Market Share Analysis, 2026-2031” (March 2026)
- CRE Daily / Apartments.com / U.S. Census Bureau, “Sun Belt States Dominate Renter Migration” (May 2026)
- Opendoor, “Where Are People Moving in 2026?” (April 2026)
- Opendoor, “Best States to Buy a House in 2026” (July 2026)
- Investate PR, “Puerto Rico Updates Act 60” (March 2026)
- Zillow Research, “Buyers: Results from the Zillow Consumer Housing Trends Report (2024)
- NAHB, “One-Story Homes Becoming More Popular in New Builds” (July 2026)
- NAHB, “Millennial Buyers Prefer Better, Not Bigger Homes” (April 2025)
- Opendoor / NAR, “What is purchase season?” (April 2026)
- RISMedia, “The Turn of the Season: Housing Market Seasonality” (July 2026)
- SpendMeNot / NAR, “What Percent of Home Buyers Use the Internet?” (May 2025)
- NAR, “2025 Profile Reveals Market Extremes” (November 2025)
- Redfin, “Is Now a Good Time to Buy a House?” (September 2026)
- NPR, “Starter homes are scarce” (October 2025)
