SURVEY SAYS

Americans Still Belive Buying A Home Is A Smart Financial Move

Last fall, in addition to its housing market forecast the National Association of REALTORS, NAR released the National Housing Pulse Survey which showed Americans remain convinced that buying a home is a good long-term investment. According to the survey, 59% of respondents also agreed that now is a good time to buy a home; that number is even higher (64%) in areas of recent home price declines.

Mortgage Woes

Of those surveyed, more than one in five homeowners lave some type of variable rate mortgage including interest only (15%) adjustable rate (6%) and a balloon or other large payment due in the next five years (2%).

These homeowners feel more strain from their monthly mortgage payment than those with fixed rates. In fact, more than half of those with variable rate mortgages say they feel a significant or slight strain, whereas 53% of those with fixed rate mortgages feel little or not strain at all. Despite these findings, only 5% of respondents say they are very or fairly worried about being able to make their mortgage payments over the next year.

Uncle Sam’s Role

When it comes to challenges facing the mortgage market, Americans are split on the need for more federal government oversight. Forty-seven percent believe the federal government should take a more active role, while 15% believe oversight is the private sector’s responsibility.

While 32% of those surveyed perceived the rate of home foreclosures in their area to have increased over the past year, 39% report the rate has remained about the same; 6% believe the foreclosure rate has decreased in their area.

When asked how big a problem foreclosures were in their area, 38% of respondent6s said foreclosures were a very big or moderate problem but the majority-51%-said foreclosures were only a slight problem or not one at all.