While a potential housing market collapse brings fear to many homeowners, a surprising number of Americans are actively hoping for one.
According to a consumer survey by LendingTree, 31% of respondents are rooting for the housing market to crash. This sentiment is especially pronounced among younger generations, with a striking 59% of Gen Z members (ages 18 to 29) expressing hopes for a market downturn.
“The fact that nearly 1 in 3 Americans wants to see the housing market crash is eye-opening,” wrote the authors of LendingTree’s report. They added that the top factor underlying this position is the belief it would lead to “future stability.”
Other top factors cited by survey respondents included the belief a housing market collapse would lead to lower property taxes, which is a hidden cost impacting homeowners disproportionally nationwide. Others said a housing crash may facilitate the ability to buy a home or help result in wider economic reform — all responses that signal underlying financial concerns.
LendingTree found that 27% of respondents who did not yet own a home said that a housing market crash was “the only way they could afford to buy” one.
More concerning still, 41% of the wider public anticipates a crash will actually occur within the next year, signaling widespread anxiety over the market’s overall health. And of those expecting a housing crash in the next 12 months, 74% fear it will be as bad as or worse than the 2008 financial crisis — an event that cost the country up to $14 trillion, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas analysis.
However, unlike the 31% of consumers who wish for a collapse, 54% of respondents say they do not want one, while 15% weren’t sure.
Nonetheless, high home prices remained the top concern, identified by 45% of respondents. This “comes as no surprise,” the report’s authors noted, given the large share of consumers cheering for a market downturn.
LendingTree also found that 55% of those surveyed expect housing prices to increase throughout 2026, with nearly 20% of respondents believing prices will rise by 10% or more. And a striking 52% do not believe they will see mortgage rates return to the record-low levels of 2020 and 2021.
Given the widespread concern over the housing market, LendingTree found that consumers are open to radical policies to facilitate housing affordability beyond a market downturn.
For example, 29% of respondents would consider getting a 50-year mortgage — a controversial policy proposal floated by the Trump administration to address housing affordability — if it would help them buy a home this year.
