How stressful is it to buy a home for the first time?

“It may not be surprising, but almost half, 40%, said they felt pressure to buy their first home because home prices are rising steadily so they thought it was best to buy sooner than later,” Jeff Kinney, senior editor with 360 Reviews at US News & World Report, told Mortgage Professional America during a telephone interview.

Clearly, the days of taking one’s time to find that dream home are over. First-time homeowners are now having to strike while the iron is hot, the study suggests.

So just how stressful was it for respondents to buy their first home? Survey participants consider the process to be more stressful than all other big anxiety-inducing events – including breakups, planning a wedding, interviewing for or starting a new job, or even welcoming a child into the family or getting a pet.

That’s not a typo. Moving is now more stressful than welcoming a child into the family. Take the survey’s word for it: “It outranked all of the other challenging life experiences we asked respondents to rate in terms of stress, including breaking up with a romantic partner,” the study’s authors wrote. “Our respondents ranked planning a wedding — which often takes months and involves a considerable amount of research, budgeting, and vendor negotiations — as less stressful than moving. Moving also outranked career challenges and milestones, such as interviewing for a new job or starting a new job, as well as having a baby or getting a new pet.”