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Consumers Top the Experts in 2012 Home Price Outlook
For the past six months, one consumer survey after another has tracked increasingly negative expectations about home prices in the year to come while some expert forecasts were more positive. Now, Fannie Mae has turned the tables.
52 Percent of Owners: Homes Worth More Now Than When They Bought Them
Slightly over half of all homeowners say their homes are worth more today than they were when they bought them, according to a new national survey conducted just before Christmas.
Seller Negativity is Killing Sales
By: Steve Cook; Fri, Dec 30, 2011
Blame sellers, not buyers, for the lousy real estate market. Deeply negative sentiment is causing sellers to lose sales or keep their homes off the market altogether. Buyer sentiment is not expected to improve in the near term and market activity will remain sluggish for months to come.
Consumers Grow Gloomier over Housing Recovery
Even as consumer confidence in the economy as a whole brightens, hopes for a housing recovery are growing increasingly gloomy.
Twenty Somethings are Faring Better
Young Americans under 30-a prime age group for first-time home buying-are feeling considerable better about their financial picture than they did a year ago, according to a major new study from Bankrate.
Will Home Value Insurance Work?
By: Steve Cook; Thu, Nov 10, 2011
The idea of insurance to protect homeowners from declining home values has been batted around for years, but now it's a reality. On September 28, Ohio homeowners became the first in the nation who can buy a real insurance policy to protect their primary residences against lost value when they sell.
Why Buyers Balk: Price Apprehension, Financial Fears, Cash Crunch and Credit
By: editor; Tue, Nov 8, 2011
Four factors - uncertainty about future prices, concern about the economy and jobs, concerns about their credit and difficulty saving for down payments - are causing buyers to delay their purchases, dramatically reducing near-term demand.
Consumers Less Pessimistic on Prices
By: editor; Tue, Nov 8, 2011
For the fifth month in a row, Americans in October expected home prices to decline over the next 12 months in Fannie Mae's monthly consumer survey.
First-timers Hang Tough
By: Steve Cook; Thu, Oct 27, 2011
Rumors to the contrary, first-time buyers are alive and kicking, buying houses at virtually the same pace as they were before the first-time homebuyers credit first stimulated demand two years ago.
Spooky Fears Haunt Consumers
By: Steve Cook; Mon, Oct 10, 2011
Consumers don't plan to buy homes anytime soon because they think prices will fall farther next year, mortgage rates will stay low for a long time and they're very worried about their personal financial situation.
Thirty-Somethings Fear Home Values Won’t Help Retirement
By: Steve Cook; Tue, Sep 20, 2011
Nearly half of all homeowners in their thirties have lost hope that their homes will recover enough value in time to play an important role in paying for their retirement.
Homeowners Sour on 2012
By: editor; Mon, Sep 19, 2011
Homeowners are growing even more pessimistic about the potential short- and long-term values of their homes.
More Owners Fear Falling Values
By: editor; Wed, Sep 14, 2011
Nearly half the nation's homeowners now fear that home values will decrease further this year, up from 30 percent in the second quarter.
Credit Concerns Keep Renters from Buying
By: Steve Cook; Mon, Aug 15, 2011
Only 23 percent of renters living in single family homes-where more than half the nation's renters live today--believe that renting makes more sense than buying a home.
Gallup: Time is Right to Buy
By: Steve Cook; Mon, May 2, 2011
Consumer attitudes towards the housing markets are echoing views in the years immediately preceding the peak of the housing boom, according to a new national survey by the Gallup poll.
Homeowners Resigned to a Multiyear Recovery
By: Steve Cook; Wed, Apr 13, 2011
Nearly half of all homeowners whose properties lost value during the housing recession expect it to will six years or more for their homes to return to pre-recession levels and nine out of ten expect it to take at least three years, according to a survey released yesterday by Pew Research.
Fewer Homeowners Have Problems Paying Mortgages
By: Steve Cook; Wed, Apr 6, 2011
A new Harris Poll released yesterday found that the percentage of homeowners having difficulty paying off their mortgages has fallen from 29 to 22 percent over the past year, a 24 percent decline.
Most Owners Pessimistic for the Long Term
By: Steve Cook; Fri, Mar 25, 2011
Fewer than half the nation's homeowners expect the value of their homes to appreciate over the next five years, a 6 percent decline from last month and just three points above the lowest level measured in almost two years.
Minorities and Young Keep Homeownership Dream Alive
By: Steve Cook; Mon, Feb 28, 2011
Fannie Mae's latest National Housing Survey found that younger Americans, Hispanics, and African-Americans are generally more positive about owning a home than the general population even though Gen Yers and minorities suffered the steepest decline in homeownership over the past five years.
Insecurity Grips Consumers as 2010 Ends
By: Steve Cook; Mon, Dec 27, 2010
Almost half of all Americans say they expect economy to get no better in the same in the coming year and two in five Americans (42 percent) feel less secure than they did a year ago while one-third (36 percent) feel just as secure and one in five (19 percent) say they now feel more secure.
PA Fraudclosure Scandals Taint Thousands of Court Actions
By: Frances Flynn Thorsen; Wed, Dec 15, 2010
Allegations of legal misconduct and fraud mount as attorneys general and bank regulators investigate lenders and servicers. Charges of unauthorized practice of law by low level employees in a Philadelphia foreclosure mill that represented lenders and servicers in thousands of foreclosures is the latest wrinkle in the ongoing saga of the U.S. housing crisis. Goldbeck [...]
2011 Outlook: Stars Align for Buyers with Low Rates and Prices
By: Steve Cook; Tue, Dec 7, 2010
Interest rates below 5 percent and prices bottoming out in the first half of the year will drive two of the three main ingredients for buyer affordability to cyclic lows next year, Freddie Mac's chief economist said yesterday.
Fannie Finds The Bottom Has a Hole in it
By: Steve Cook; Tue, Nov 23, 2010
Fannie Mae's most recent nationwide housing survey finds that consumers are less certain that the housing market has bottomed, and continue to be wary of buying a home.
Support for Homeownership Falls 6 Percent
By: Steve Cook; Fri, Oct 15, 2010
The number of Americans who believe buying a home is a good financial decision has fallen every year since 2007 and reached a low of 77 percent this year, according to an annual survey released yesterday by the National Association of Realtors.
Harris Poll Detects Uptick in Home Buying Sentiment
By: Steve Cook; Mon, Oct 4, 2010
A new Harris Poll released today finds no significant changes in consumer expectations in how Americans will spend their money on big ticket items over the next 6 months, with the possible exception of homes.
Expectations Rise for Prices to Fall
By: Steve Cook; Tue, Sep 21, 2010
Both real estate professionals and homeowners soured on the direction of home prices in the third quarter and nearly half of the 1,100 professionals participating in a new survey by HomeGain expect prices to fall over the next six months.
Outlook Brightens for Luxury Markets
By: Steve Cook; Sun, Sep 12, 2010
While the end of the homebuyer tax credit has left most real estate markets begging for buyers, the luxury and second homes markets may be in for a boost in 2011
Nine of Ten Consumers Postponing Big Purchases Through 2010
By: Steve Cook; Thu, Sep 9, 2010
Fear that a double dip recession will threaten their personal finances is driving nine out of ten potential buyers out of the market for big ticket items like homes and cars for at least the next three to four months, according to a new national consumer survey released today.
Homeowners: Worst is Yet to Come
By: Steve Cook; Thu, Aug 19, 2010
Homeowners have turned more pessimistic about near-term prospects for home values in their local housing markets than they have been in the past three quarters. One out of three now believes home values in their local markets have not yet reached a bottom and more than a quarter (28 percent) expect home values in will decrease over the next six months.
Consumer Confidence Ends 2009 on Mixed Note
By: Steve Cook; Tue, Dec 29, 2009
In December, consumer confidence in the economy improved moderately for the second month in a row, but consumers' short term prospects fell.
Home Pricing Tests Real Estate Agents
By: Steve Cook; Thu, Dec 3, 2009
For the real estate professional whose role it is to get the most for his client that he can, these are hard times.
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By: editor; Tue, Jan 10, 2012
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