There’s somewhat of an “attitude divide” between experts and consumers these days. Industry news and commentary are rife with housing supply concerns as markets nationwide have been dealing with low inventory for quite some time. Rising home prices are also making news regularly as year-end figures for 2017 average appreciation are filtering in and showing average gains of 6-7% across the country.
Economists have repeatedly expressed fears that real estate prices would outpace income growth to a point where even entry-level housing would be out of reach for first-time buyers. Statistics such as home seller profits rising $7,000 in 2017 from the previous year to an average of $54,000 above original purchase price seem to reinforce a gloomy – or at least challenging – outlook for today’s potential home buyers.
We haven’t quite reached the time of year that the public believes to be the “traditional home-buying season,” but consumers are bullish on the economy, their incomes and the housing market itself according to highlights from Fannie Mae’s January 2018 Data Release:
- 86% are confident about their job security over the next 12 months
- 52% believe their personal financial situations will improve over the next year compared to 10% who think it will worsen
- 59% of Americans believe it’s a good time to buy a home
- 65% believe it’s a good time to sell
- The Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI) has reached a new, all-time high of 89.5, which is a compilation of responses to six housing market-related questions
- 57% say getting a home mortgage today would be easy and the number of Americans who believe it would be difficult dropped 5% from the previous month
Consumers are confident and likely have a sense of urgency: 55% of people responding to the January Fannie Mae survey believe that mortgage interest rates will increase this year. There’s no shortage of consumer enthusiasm heading into the spring market, but the challenge for mortgage and real estate professionals will be connecting and engaging with them over what could be a long sales cycle.
Do you have timely, relevant messages and outreach ready to deploy across multiple channels to capitalize on consumer interest as the home-buying season heats up?
