January 17th, 2014 9:52 AM by Richard T. Cirelli
Consumer Attitudes Improve Toward Housing
According to a monthly survey provided by the Government mortgage agency Fannie Mae, the housing recovery is still on firm footing and consumer housing sentiment has bounced back from an autumn dip.
Year-over-year gains in home price expectations and attitudes about the current selling environment were particularly notable," said Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae. "Going into 2014, housing attitudes are recovering from a recent dip that coincided with the heated fiscal discussions between the Administration and Congress late last year.
Here are some of the highlights of the December survey:
49%: Expect home prices to increase over the next 12 months vs. only 43 percent who held such expectations
in December, 2012.
3.2%: Among those who expect an increase, the average rise in value among those who responded compared
to average expectations of 2.6 percent last year
33%: Those who view the present as a good time to sell a house. Those responses rose from 21 percent in
December 2012.
67%: Those who view now as a good time to buy. Down from 70 percent a year earlier.
50%: Say that it would be easy to get a home mortgage today rising to 50%, compared to 45% last year.
53%: Respondents who expect rents to increase over the next 12 months - up 3% compared to November
while the average expectation for rent increases soared a full point to 3.8 percent.
31%: Percent of respondents who said the economy is on the right track, down slightly from last month.
42%: The percentage of respondents who expect their personal financial situation to improve over the next 12
months increased 4%
23%: said their household income is already higher than the year before.
The National Housing Survey is conducted each month by telephone among a panel of over 1000 respondents, both homeowners and renters. They are asked over 100 questions to assess their attitudes toward owning and renting a home, home and rental price changes, homeownership distress, the economy, household finances, and overall consumer confidence. The December survey was conducted between December 1, 2013 and December 16, 2013.
Consumer attitudes about the ease of getting a mortgage today are at their highest level in the survey's three-and-a-half-year history, which should help offset the current higher interest rate environment and support a continued housing recovery as we move through 2014.