Veterans United: Prospective Homebuyers Optimistic

(Image courtesy of Ivan S/pexels.com)

Veterans United, Columbia, Mo., released its Q2 2026 State of Mind Survey, finding 73% of prospective buyers plan to purchase a home within the next year and 62% say buying a home feels within reach.

They’re being strategic, too–47% say they would prefer to buy now and refinance in the future rather than wait for buying conditions to improve.

Veterans are moving particularly quickly–about 43% of veteran homebuyers plan to purchase within the next six months, compared with 22% of civilian buyers.

The percentage of prospective buyers who feel stressed about their finances fell to 26% and 49% say they feel at ease. Sixty-five percent of all buyers expect they will be financially better off a year from now.

However, parsing by population tells a different story. Civilian prospective buyers actually reported their stress grew 8 points to 38%. But, veteran prospective buyers saw stress fall 8 points to 19%. And, 54% of veterans say they currently feel at ease with their finances.

Other things are changing, too. Forty-five percent of prospective buyers are using AI to help with their homebuying journey, up from 40% in Q1 and marking the fourth consecutive quarter of consistent growth.

Prospective buyers are using AI to check property values (41%), learning about housing trends (36%) and helping search for homes (32%). More than half–52%–are using it for savings planning, and 38% are using it for guidance to improve their credit. But, 77% also believe it should be a supporting tool, not a primary decisionmaker.