Blanchard & Calhoun Real Estate Blog

  Fannie Mae released their National Housing Survey for the 2^nd quarter last month. The findings of their survey are loud and clear. The Nation is not confident in the housing market and it is becoming too hard for most American to obtain a home mortgage.

  The highlights from the survey saw Job security is still a major concern for 1 in 4 Americans. The majority of Single Family Renters feels owning a home makes more sense than renting but will still rent their next home. The survey noted 73% of single Family renters say it would be difficult for them to get a home mortgage and 81% say owning a home would require financial sacrifice.

 The survey is showing me that confidence is still at an all time low. The mortgage interest rates have been at historic lows this summer but if Americans feel it is impossible to obtain a mortgage they will continue to rent which will put more pressure on the housing market. I have always felt Augusta was in better condition to handle the housing troubles with Fort Gordon and the medical community in our back yard. Augusta’s housing market has shown some signs of improving. The next 6-9 months will give us a better gauge of the progress. I believe it’s still a great time to buy your next home.

Below is some additional findings from the survey

 Americans are less optimistic about the housing recovery – fewer respondents expect home prices to go up over the next year (26% from 30% in Q1-2011) and fewer expect home mortgage interest rates to rise (down from 49% in Q1-2011 to 46%)

 On average, Americans expect home prices to go up by 0.4% over the next year (down from 0.9% in Q1-2011)

 On average, respondents expect home rental prices to go up by 3.5% (up from 3.2% in Q1-2011)

 The number of Mortgage borrowers self-reporting to be underwater has increased slightly since Q1-2011 – from 23% to 26%

 Americans are growing more pessimistic about the economy – just 28% of Americans think that the economy is on the right track (down by 5 percentage points since Q1-2011) and 64% think the economy is off on the wrong track (up from 59% in Q1-2011)

 Just 1 in 4 respondents say their personal financial situation has improved over the past year, while 26% say it has gotten worse and 48% say it has stayed about the same

 As in previous quarters, on average, Americans report saving less of their total income (7.6%) than what they think they should be saving (15% of their pre-tax income)

 Underwater borrowers remain more likely to be stressed about their debt than all Mortgage borrowers – 42% of Underwater borrowers say they are stressed about their debt, compared to 31% of all Mortgage borrowers

 Underwater borrowers are more likely than all Mortgage borrowers to say they have considered defaulting on their mortgage (9%), compared to 4% of all Mortgage borrowers

 Consistent with previous findings, most Americans think it would be difficult for them to get a home mortgage today (53%). The number goes up to 56% among Underwater borrowers and up to 71% among Renters

 As in previous quarters, 2 in 3 respondents support mortgage modification programs – they think such programs help protect the economy and local communities from increased foreclosures and falling home prices