The post Auction Buyer Optimism at Three-Year High in 2025 appeared first on Think Realty.
- 64% expect purchases to increase in 2025, up from 60% in 2024 and 54% in 2023
- 33% expect home price decline in 2025, down from 40% in 2024
- 43% describe market as overvalued, down from 49% in 2024
- 26% of auction buyers describe themselves as owner-occupants, up from 13% in 2024
Auction.com, the nation’s leading distressed real estate marketplace, today released its 2025 Buyer Insights report, which shows that buyers of distressed properties at auction are the most optimistic they’ve been in three years when it comes to expectations for property purchases in the coming year while becoming less bearish about home price appreciation and rents.
Based on a February 2025 survey of more than 350 Auction.com buyers, the survey also found that 26 percent of auction buyers describe themselves as owner-occupants, double the share from a year ago.
One-third of buyers (33 percent) surveyed said they expect home prices in their local market to decline in 2025, down from 40 percent in the 2024 buyer survey and on par with the 32 percent in the 2023 buyer survey.
Forty-three percent of buyers surveyed in 2025 described their local market as “overvalued with correction possible”, down from 49 percent in the 2024 survey.
Nearly two-thirds of Auction.com buyers surveyed (64 percent) expect their property purchases to increase in 2025, up from 60 percent in 2024 and 54 percent in 2023.
Among buyer types, institutional investors were the most likely to expect increasing property purchases in 2025 (85 percent) compared to 71 percent for owner-occupant buyers and 62 percent for local community developers.
The report also shows a shift from in-person auctions to online auctions along with trends in buyer purchase volume, motivation and strategies for working with current occupants.
Twice as Many Owner-Occupant Buyers
The share of Auction.com buyers who described themselves as owner-occupants doubled in the 2025 survey to 26 percent, up from 13 percent in the 2024 survey.
Sixty-three percent of buyers surveyed described themselves as local community developers, down from 78 percent in the 2024 survey. That decrease came mostly as a result of the sharp uptick in owner-occupant buyers.
The share of buyers surveyed who described themselves as institutional investors was just 4 percent, up slightly from 3 percent in 2024.
Other survey findings in the report:
- 97% of buyers surveyed purchased 10 or fewer properties in 2024
- 84% ranked building generational wealth as a motivation for investing in real estate
- 55% renovate and resell to owner-occupants as their primary investing strategy
- 50% rank online or remote bid auctions as top property acquisition method
- 91% offer graceful exit to current occupants of occupied properties
- 64% spend more than $20,000 on renovations and holding costs
To see the full report, CLICK HERE!
The post Auction Buyer Optimism at Three-Year High in 2025 appeared first on Think Realty.
