What is coming
Pearl’s 2026 homebuyer research
Four studies over eighteen months: a national survey of 833 recent and active homebuyers, three focus groups in metro Atlanta, ten individual interviews, and a usability study with homeowners across seven states.
Buyers are trying to do three things when they choose a home: compare it with others, understand how it works, and predict what owning it will be like. Beyond price, size and location, the information to do that often exists but rarely makes it into the listing or reaches buyers before they make an offer. Confidence falls as problems get harder to see, from 73% on heating and cooling to 53% on radon. The report calls this the home performance gap: the distance between the information buyers need and the information they get.
