subject: Americans More Upbeat About Home Prices Despite Wariness Of Homeownership [print this page] Americans More Upbeat About Home Prices Despite Wariness Of Homeownership
Americans are slightly more upbeat about housing markets even though they remain leery of investing in a home and pessimistic about the overall economy. And younger Americans, Hispanics, and African-Americans are generally more positive about homeownership than others, despite being hard hit by the housing downturn.
So says Fannie Mae's latest national housing survey.
According to the survey:
Seventy-eight percent of those surveyed believe housing prices will hold steady or increase over the next twelve months, up from 73 percent in January 2010.
Almost two-thirds believe the economy is on the wrong track, virtually unchanged (61%) from the beginning of last year.
Fifty-nine percent of Generation Y (ages 18-34) believes buying a home has a lot of potential as an investment
More than one-third of Hispanics (34%) and African-Americans (35%) say they will buy a home in the next three years, compared to only one in four (23%) of all other Americans.
Although Americans are slightly more optimistic about home values increasing, they are more wary of home buying, the survey shows. The percentage of Americans who believe that buying a home is a safe investment fell from 64 percent over the course of the year, from 70 percent in January 2010. This is down sharply from a similar survey conducted in December 2003, when 83 percent of the general population thought buying a home was a safe investment.
More people said they thing getting a mortgage will be harder for future generations. Three-quarters of those surveyed (74%) believe it will be harder to get a mortgage in the future, up from just over two-thirds at the beginning of 2010.
"This sense of uncertainty is weighing on the housing recovery today and reshaping expectations for housing for the future," said Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae chief economist.
At least homeowners are slightly less likely to consider defaulting on their mortgages.
One out of three delinquent borrowers said they have considered defaulting on their mortgage, compared to 39 percent at the beginning of the year to 31 percent. The number of delinquent borrowers who say they have seriously considered defaulting also has declined, from 25 percent in January 2010 to 19 percent.
The Fannie Mae Fourth Quarter National Housing Survey, conducted between October 2010 and December 2010, involved 3,407 telephone interviews.
