The federal government shutdown is creating yet another challenge for the already strained homebuyer market. According to a Redfin survey, many consumers say they are delaying or canceling major purchases, including homes and cars, due to increased financial uncertainty.
Even before the shutdown, the market was contending with high mortgage rates, elevated home prices and sluggish sales. The added instability of a government shutdown has further rattled buyer confidence.
However, about two-thirds of Americans said they have no plans to change their purchasing behavior as a result of the shutdown, according to a Redfin survey of over 1,000 U.S. residents conducted on the third day of the shutdown.
Some respondents are reconsidering big purchases because they are directly affected. The shutdown has paused checks for roughly two million federal workers. While many of them are expected to receive back pay once a deal is reached—potentially by mid-October—others working for private companies tied to federal grants or contracts are also without income.
Most Americans are not directly impacted by government pay freezes. Yet financial anxiety persists.
“People whose incomes aren’t directly dependent on the federal government’s budget may be rethinking a major purchase because the shutdown is one more in a long line of events making Americans feel unstable about their finances,” the report noted.
Even before the shutdown, financial caution was already widespread. An August Redfin-Ipsos survey found that more than two in five American workers had delayed or canceled a major purchase due to job security concerns. At that time, 37% of workers said they felt more anxious about job stability than they had at the start of the year. In a separate survey from April, 24% of respondents said they had canceled a major purchase and 32% had delayed one due to tariffs.
“A government shutdown doesn’t just stop paychecks for some federal employees—it shakes the financial confidence of Americans,” Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather said.
“People across the country are taking in the news and thinking, ‘We’ve faced inflation, tariffs, job losses, a volatile stock market, and now a government shutdown—what’s next?’ It’s understandable that some people are reconsidering buying a home or a car when the economy feels uncertain.”
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