The First-Time Homebuyer Education and Counseling Demonstration is a randomized controlled experiment designed to test the impact of homebuyer education and counseling on a sample of 5,854 prospective low- to moderate- and middle-income (LMMI) first-time homebuyers (less than 120 percent of area median income). From 2014 - 2016, the research team worked with three national lenders and two national pre-purchase counseling intermediaries, and 63 HUD-approved local counseling agencies to enroll and randomly assign the sample to one of three interventions and a control group in 28 metropolitan areas with high application volumes across the country. The objective of the demonstration is to test the effectiveness and impact of two different types of homebuyer education and counseling modalities on mortgage preparedness, homebuyer outcomes, and loan performance for a large sample of prospective LMMI, first-time homebuyers (FTHB) over three to five years to determine to what extent their outcomes might be attributed back to the intervention they received. In July 2022, the Long-Term Impact Report and a 6-year Findings Briefing provided findings 6 years after random assignment. The Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) awarded a final contract to Abt Associates to conduct an additional COVID-19 impact analysis to supplement the long-term impact analysis. A Final Report is expected in early 2025 that examines the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on financial indicators and mortgage performance for the overall study sample and the impact of homebuyer education and counseling on the financial indicators and mortgage performance for the treatment group within the context of COVID-19.

The three treatment groups are:

• Remote online homebuyer education + telephone counseling
• In-Person homebuyer education and counseling
• "Choice" group where study participants indicated their preference for remote or in-person education + counseling, and then were assigned to their preferred intervention

The Early Insights Report was published in June 2016. The Baseline Report was published in January 2017. Who Participates in Homebuyer Education and Counseling Services and Why? Insights From HUD's First-Time Homebuyer Education and Counseling Demonstration was published in 2018. Short-Term Impact Report: The HUD First-Time Homebuyer Education and Counseling Demonstration, Preliminary Findings was published in 2019. A long-term follow-up survey of the full study sample is being conducted from 2019 to mid-2020. A final long-term impact report is expected in 2021.

Note: The status of this project is ongoing.

Homeownership