One benefit of the slower housing market? Less buyer regret
Home maintenance, the costs of necessary household items and the impact of a home purchase on savings topped the list among recent buyers who did have regrets.
The housing market may be moving at a slower pace, but new data indicates buyers who do make a home purchase are less likely to regret the move now than they may have been a few years ago.
According to Realtor.com's 2025 Consumer Attitudes & Usage Study, 37% of recent homebuyers had no regrets — up from 31% in 2023.
What do buyers regret? Even so, over 6 in 10 recent buyers did have complaints to register. Of the different reasons for regret that researchers listed, the biggest two-year drop came in the "I paid too much" category, which fell from 15% in 2023 to 8% this year. The biggest rise — from 4% in 2023 to 8% in 2025 — was among those who "didn't consider the external environment," referring to factors like noise and traffic.
The most common regret buyers cited was that the home required more maintenance than they'd anticipated, a sentiment that 16% of all recent buyers shared. Next was having to spend more than expected on household items (15%) and the impact that their home purchase had on their savings (14%).
Sentiments vary by age: Older buyers, particularly baby boomers, generally had the fewest regrets, while younger first-time buyers were more likely to feel surprised after completing a purchase.
Six in 10 baby boomer buyers had no regrets at all, while only 27% of Gen Z buyers expressed the same sentiment. The younger generations were also more likely to express regret about commute times and neighborhood choices, which could be linked to affordability challenges narrowing their options.
Slow market leading to confident purchases: The slower housing market is factoring into this decline in buyer regret, according to Laura Eddy, Realtor.com's vice president of research and insights. Researchers estimated that homes were sitting on the market for a median of 63 days as of October — nearly two weeks longer than the same time in 2023.
"Today's buyers are generally more qualified, taking extra time to weigh their options and make confident decisions — factors that are helping reduce second-guessing after purchase," Eddy said.