It has been several months since the supply of homes ceased to meet the demand of a rapidly growing pool of home buyers. The uptick in demand sent home prices sky high. Combined with continuously low interest rates, experts predict bidding wars and exorbitant home prices will linger for an indefinite period of time.
For the millions of Americans therefore looking for loans, they have the option of institutional lenders (Bank of America, Wells Fargo, etc.) or the new online lenders like Sofi or Ally Bank. When asked about trust in these lending options, the general population appears to be divided. While 41% said they trust traditional lenders more, 39% said they weren’t sure which they trusted more. Fifteen percent of survey respondents trust both institutional and online lenders equally.
It comes as no surprise that older survey respondents are more likely than younger respondents to say they only trust institutional lenders. Considering the likelihood to take out a mortgage in the immediate future decreases significantly with age, there is certainly space for online lenders to build trust with the younger demographic.
The younger demographic is also more likely to be in the process of buying a home or poised to purchase a home in the next 30 days by a difference of 14 percentage points.
Regardless of age, anyone who intends to purchase a new home within the next two years reports the highest trust in online-only mortgage lenders.
Lower-income households are also in the home buying game right now. Within the last several weeks, people making $50K or less in a year report the highest intent to buy a home in the next 30 days. These low-income prospective buyers have a small bit of trust in online lenders and a huge grouping of those are unsure about where they would put their trust for a loan.
Online mortgage lenders have captured the trust of a fair number of U.S. adults, but as the housing boom continues and interest rates remain low, young, low-income individuals are turning into loan-seeking home buyers. This provides a large market for online lenders to build trust with novice borrowers searching for speedy access to mortgages – if they can beat out the competition.
