Consumer Confidence Increasing, Housing Market Attitudes Remain Varied

Based on the recent survey conducted by Fannie Mae, the findings show that even with the increasing economic confidence, Americans still have a mixed housing sentiment in October.

The National Housing Survey by Fannie Mae showed that 40 percent of American consumers believe that the economy is currently on its right path, which is similar to September’s results but 13 percentage points up from last year. As for Americans who say otherwise about their economy, they’re not 53 percent from 54 percent last month.

With regards to their finances, 25 percent believe that their household income is higher than last year, while a rising share said their expenses are significantly lower. 45 percent believe that their financial situation will improve over the next year compared to 41 percent in September.

However, the housing attitudes of Americans were quite mixed with 44 percent of the Americans expecting home prices to increase by 2.8 percent next year after the price stagnated throughout the entire summer. As for those expecting the prices to reduce, their number has declined from 9 percent last August to 7 percent.

But the Americans respondents were quite pessimistic in terms on the financial side of homeownership. 48 percent expect the mortgage rates to increase in the next year with the Federal Reserve’s plans to increase interest rates.

Half of the consumers were also less hopeful about their chances of getting a mortgage as the banking community becomes resistant to opening the credit box.

With all of these factors considered, the number of Americans claiming that this is an excellent time to buy a home dropped to 65 percent. However, this is opposite to consumers claiming that its a good time to sell as their numbers hit 44 percent.

The latter findings is hopeful sign for the housing market according to Fannie Mae’s SVP and Chief Economist Doug Duncan. “The narrowing gap between home buying and home selling sentiment may foreshadow increased housing inventory levels and a better balance of housing supply and demand,” he said. “These results may help drive a healthier housing market in 2015.”