According to the 2010 National Housing Pulse (NHP) survey, nearly 80 percent of Americans believe that buying and maintaining ownership of a home is still a good investment, despite the bleak state of today’s housing market[1]. The survey, part of a report released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), was designed to measure how “affordable housing issues” have impacted consumers. Surprisingly, at least when it comes to public perceptions about investing in real estate, these issues have not had the type of impact on perception of real estate investing on the scale that you might expect.
Of course, job security concerns were higher than any time since the NAR initiated the report in 2002, but that is hardly surprising given the state of the jobs market. However, based on public sentiment, if the jobs market makes a recovery, the real estate market will be quick to follow because Americans still believe that owning a home is not just part of the American Dream, but good investing sense. Given the low prices of today’s homes, buyers are still being attracted to the closing table. The jobs market just needs to improve in order to increase the volume of buyers.
Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, described the linkage between housing and jobs saying simply: “A slow recovery is taking place…The pace of job growth will determine the strength of the housing market recovery.” He also predicted that in the coming months it would become apparent that mortgage rates had hit bottom, and that “higher rates in the next couple of years could impact and potentially reduce the number of potential buyers entering the housing market.”
Are you buying up properties currently, or trying to sell?
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[1]http://www.cantonrep.com/news/real_estate/x360238983/Most-Americans-believe-owning-a-home-is-a-good-investment
