More Americans are not spooked at buying a haunted house

Ghostly inhabitants are not a deterrent to a motivated home buyer, especially given the inventory shortage affecting the housing market. Nearly three-quarters of such shoppers said they would be open to buying a home that was said to be haunted.

The 73% of Americans that said they are willing to purchase a house where paranormal activity was suspected increased 14 percentage points over a similar survey last year from Clever Real Estate, which is attributing the change to the white hot real estate market.

Price is the leading motivator for those considering purchasing a haunted house, with 63% citing a lower cost as a factor, followed by 57% willing to look at it if the property was in a safer neighborhood and 53% if the home had friendly ghosts.

Furthermore, slightly more than half, 52%, would not pay full market value for a haunted house. On the other hand, 27% of the respondents would pay more than market value, with 11% of this group actually willing to go over 50% of that amount.

Clever surveyed 1,000 Americans who answered up to 20 questions about their paranormal beliefs, home buying preferences and Halloween plans.

Meanwhile, purchasing in a haunted locale is more likely to leave buyers better off one year from now than if they were to buy in other cities.

In its report for August of the top markets at risk of a home price decline, the No. 5 city on the list, Worcester, Mass., had between a 25% to 50% chance of a price decline over the following 12 months.

By contrast, New Orleans, where the local traditional practice of voodoo is a major part of the city's tourism, faces a 16.4 % probability of housing price decline in the next year, according to CoreLogic Market Risk Indicators.

Of the five most-haunted cities in the U.S. according to CoreLogic, New Orleans had the highest probability of price declines.

Salem, Mass., famous for its witch trials during the Colonial Era, had the next highest risk of a price decline in the next year at 15.3%.

Next is Portland, Ore., another hot spot of paranormal activity, where the MRI measures the likelihood of a price decline at 11.8%, followed by Savannah, Ga., at 11.5%, and Washington — where the White House is believed to be haunted — at 9.4%.