By Aijaz Alam
How do people find the home they buy?
52% of US home buyers found the home they bought online in the National Association of REALTORS' 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers (purchases from July 2024 to June 2025), and 70% searched on a phone or tablet. In the 2024 Profile, 29% found their home through an agent and 8% through a friend, relative or neighbor.
- 52%Of US home buyers found the home they bought onlineNAR 2025 Profile, Jul 2024-Jun 2025
- 70%Of US home buyers used a mobile phone or tablet in their searchNAR 2025 Profile, Jul 2024-Jun 2025
- 29%Of buyers found the home they bought through a real estate agentNAR 2024 Profile, Jul 2023-Jun 2024
- 10 weeksMedian time buyers spent searching for a homeNAR 2025 Profile
The numbers
The full breakdown
How US home buyers searched, NAR 2025 Profile
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Buyers who found the home they bought online | 52% |
| Buyers who used a mobile phone or tablet during their search | 70% |
| Median length of the home search | 10 weeks |
| Buyers who bought through a real estate agent or broker | 88% |
Purchases of a home to live in from July 2024 to June 2025. The first two rows are from NAR's product page for the 2025 Profile (the full tables are paid for non-members); the last two are from the 2025 Profile highlights PDF.
Where buyers found their home and how they started, NAR 2024 Profile
| Measure | Share of buyers |
|---|---|
| Found the home they bought through online searches | 51% |
| Found the home through a real estate agent | 29% |
| Found the home through a friend, relative or neighbor | 8% |
| First step: looked online at properties for sale | 43% |
| First step: contacted a real estate agent | 21% |
| Used a mobile phone or tablet in the search | 69% |
| Used a real estate agent as an information source | 86% |
NAR 2024 Profile highlights PDF, purchases from July 2023 to June 2024. The highlights do not list the remaining places buyers found their home (for example yard signs, builders or open houses).
Website features buyers found very useful, NAR 2024 Profile
| Feature | Share of buyers who found it very useful |
|---|---|
| Photos | 41% |
| Detailed information about properties for sale | 39% |
| Floor plans | 31% |
| Open houses (as an information source) | 23% |
NAR 2024 Profile highlights PDF. Open houses are an information source rather than a website feature; NAR lists them in the same section.
How US buyers searched, Zillow Consumer Housing Trends Report 2026
| Measure | Share of buyers |
|---|---|
| Used at least one online shopping resource (website, mobile site or app) | 92% |
| Searched on a mobile website on a smartphone or tablet | 80% |
| Searched on a website on a laptop or desktop computer | 75% |
| Searched on an app on a smartphone or tablet | 74% |
| First homebuying activity: contacted a real estate agent | 46% |
| First homebuying activity: contacted a mortgage lender | 29% |
| Median length of the home search | 2-3 months |
Zillow's Buyers results from the Consumer Housing Trends Report 2026 (published 14 Oct 2026); buyers who bought a home in the past year. The first-activity question lists steps such as contacting an agent or lender, pre-approval, open houses and tours, but not looking at listings online, so it does not match NAR's first-step question. Zillow's buyer results do not report where buyers found the home they bought.
Online resources buyers used when searching, Zillow survey by year
| Survey year | Website on a computer | Mobile website | App on a phone or tablet |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 73% | 60% | 51% |
| 2020 | 76% | 64% | 55% |
| 2021 | 82% | 74% | 68% |
| 2022 | 80% | 75% | 68% |
| 2023 | 82% | 84% | 77% |
| 2024 | 80% | 80% | 72% |
| 2025 | 80% | 79% | 73% |
| 2026 | 75% | 80% | 74% |
Zillow's Buyers results from the Consumer Housing Trends Report 2026, table of online resources used when searching. Buyers can use more than one, so rows do not add up to 100%.
Over time
How buyers started and ended their search, NAR Profile by year
| Profile | First step: looked online | First step: contacted an agent | Found the home online | Median weeks searching | Median homes viewed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 Profile | 47% | 18% | Not published | 10 | 5 |
| 2023 Profile | 41% | 20% | Not published | 10 | 7 |
| 2024 Profile | 43% | 21% | 51% | 10 | 7 |
| 2025 Profile | Not published | Not published | 52% | 10 | Not published |
Each figure as printed in that year's free Profile highlights (2025 online share from NAR's product page for the 2025 Profile). 'Not published' means the free highlights for that year do not give the figure. Each Profile covers July to June purchases, for example July 2024 to June 2025 for the 2025 Profile. The 2022 Profile says the search grew to 10 weeks from 8 weeks in the 2020 and 2021 reports.
Why sources differ
Same question, different answers
| Number | When | Who measured | Why it differs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 52% | Jul 2024 to Jun 2025 | NAR 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers | Where buyers found the home they actually bought |
| 43% | Jul 2023 to Jun 2024 | NAR 2024 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers | The first step buyers took, not where they found the home |
| 70% | Jul 2024 to Jun 2025 | NAR 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers | Buyers who used a phone or tablet at any point in the search |
| 60% | Jul 2021 to Jun 2022 | NAR 2022 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers | Share of the typical buyer's internet search done on a mobile device, not a share of buyers |
| 96% | Jul 2021 to Jun 2022 | NAR 2022 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers | Buyers who used online tools at all during the search |
| 92% | 2026 survey, bought in the past year | Zillow Consumer Housing Trends Report 2026 | Buyers who used at least one website, mobile site or app while shopping, not where they found the home |
| 80% | 2026 survey, bought in the past year | Zillow Consumer Housing Trends Report 2026 | Buyers who searched on a mobile website; 74% used an app |
| 46% | 2026 survey, bought in the past year | Zillow Consumer Housing Trends Report 2026 | First homebuying activity was contacting an agent, from a list that leaves out browsing listings online |
Figures on online home search range from about four in ten to nearly everyone, because they answer different questions from the same NAR survey. The 52% in the 2025 Profile is where buyers found the home they finally bought. The 43% in the 2024 Profile is the first step buyers took, looking online at homes for sale, before most of them hired an agent. Use of the internet at any stage is close to universal: 96% of buyers used online tools in the 2022 Profile, and the 2023 Profile says all buyers used the internet. Mobile figures differ the same way: 70% of buyers used a phone or tablet in the 2025 Profile, while the 60% in the 2022 Profile is the share of a typical buyer's internet search done on a mobile device. An online find and an agent are not opposites either. In the 2025 Profile, 88% of buyers still bought through an agent or broker, often a home they first saw on a listing site. All of these NAR figures cover buyers of a home to live in, not investors, and come from a mailed survey with an adjusted response rate of 3.5% in 2025. Zillow's Consumer Housing Trends Report, an online panel survey weighted to Census benchmarks, points the same way: 92% of 2026 buyers used at least one website, mobile site or app while shopping, 80% searched on a mobile website and 74% on an app. Its finding that 46% of buyers first contacted an agent looks far above NAR's 21%, but Zillow's list of first steps leaves out looking at listings online, the step NAR finds most common. Both surveys put the typical search at roughly two to three months: 10 weeks in NAR's Profile, 2-3 months in Zillow's.
What it means
How to use these numbers
Most US home searches now start and end on a screen. In NAR's 2025 Profile, 52% of buyers found the home they bought online and 70% used a phone or tablet along the way. The online share has barely moved in recent years: it was 51% in the 2024 Profile.
Online search has not replaced agents; the two work together. In the 2024 Profile, 43% of buyers began by looking at listings online and 21% began by calling an agent, yet 29% found the home they bought through an agent and 88% bought through an agent or broker in 2025. A typical buyer searched for 10 weeks and, in 2024, viewed seven homes, two of them only online.
For agents and sellers, the listing page is where most buyers first meet a home. In the 2024 Profile, photos were the website feature buyers most often called very useful (41%), ahead of detailed property information (39%) and floor plans (31%). Good photos and complete details matter at least as much as a sign in the yard.
Method and sources
How it was measured
Method
- Publisher
- National Association of REALTORS, Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers 2025 (and the 2022, 2023 and 2024 editions for history)
- Sample
- 120-question survey mailed in July 2025 to 173,250 recent buyers of a primary residence, answered on paper or online; 6,103 responses, adjusted response rate 3.5%
- Margin of error
- +/- 1.25% at the 95% confidence level
- Definition
- Where the buyer first found the home they purchased; first step taken in the home-buying process; devices used in the search. Investors and vacation homes are excluded
- Released
- 4 Nov 2025
- Second source
- Zillow Consumer Housing Trends Report 2026: 21 online opt-in panel surveys fielded March to July 2026, 144,000+ respondents in all, weighted to Census benchmarks; buyers bought a home in the past year
- Checked at source
- 31 Oct 2026: NAR's 2025 Profile product page on store.realtor and the 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 Profile highlights PDFs. 1 Nov 2026: Zillow's 2026 Buyers results and methodology pages; NAR's Profile highlights page still showed the 2025 edition
- Next release
- NAR publishes the Profile each November; the 2026 edition is due in early November 2026. Zillow's buyer results came out on 14 Oct 2026
- Last changed
- 1 Nov 2026
- Data files
- CSV · JSON (stable links)
Sources
- Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers; Generational Trends; Existing-Home Sales, National Association of REALTORS Industry body
- 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers (product page), National Association of REALTORS Industry body
- Consumer Housing Trends Report (Buyers and Sellers results), Zillow Research (Zillow Group) Vendor data
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FAQ
More questions people ask
How long does it take to find a home?
A median of 10 weeks in NAR's 2025 Profile, the same as in the 2022, 2023 and 2024 Profiles. The 2022 Profile said the search had grown from 8 weeks in the 2020 and 2021 reports.
How many homes do buyers look at before buying?
A median of seven in NAR's 2024 Profile, two of which were viewed only online. In the 2022 Profile buyers looked at a median of five homes and viewed four only online.
What is the first thing buyers do when looking for a home?
Most look online. In NAR's 2024 Profile, 43% of buyers said their first step was looking at properties on the internet, and 21% first contacted a real estate agent.
Do buyers still find homes through agents?
Yes, though fewer than online. In the 2024 Profile, 29% found the home they bought through an agent, against 51% online, and 86% used an agent as an information source during the search.
Every number on this page was checked at its original source (National Association of REALTORS, Zillow Research (Zillow Group)). Free to cite with a link to this page.