"Nothing wrong with the real estate market"
There is nothing wrong with the real estate market as long as you don’t need to buy or sell a home. A recent survey by the online brokerage ShareBuilder found that a majority of Americans are much less concerned about the current state of the housing/mortgage market.
The survey found that 67 percent of the respondents were "just as confident" in their ability to make mortgage payments -- even in the current declining housing/mortgage market. Obvious, however, was the finding that 18 percent of those with a household income under $50,000 were less confident than those who make more than $50,000.
With credit getting tighter and many major lenders having to deal with loans that might have not been made in a less boisterous market, the same survey showed 28 percent of those homeowners surveyed planned to increase their spending on home improvements.
Those concerned about the housing market are instead cutting back on entertainment and discretionary spending. Nineteen percent of homeowners plan to decrease their spending on travel and vacations and another 19 percent say they are decreasing spending on dining out.
While this is not good new for DisneyWorld and McDonald's and those whose investment portfolios include them, it shows how complicated trying to gauge public opinion can be. Often, what the surveys say and what the respondents are really thinks bear no resemblance. Gopal Ahluwalia, the veteran vice president of research for the National Association of Home Builders, who periodically produces a study titled "What New Home Buyers Want," acknowledges that the wish list of the buyers the NAHB surveys gets much smaller once they have to write checks. Each one of these surveys that buyers want more and more -- more space and more amenities but want it for an unrealistically low price.
The survey found that 67 percent of the respondents were "just as confident" in their ability to make mortgage payments -- even in the current declining housing/mortgage market. Obvious, however, was the finding that 18 percent of those with a household income under $50,000 were less confident than those who make more than $50,000.
With credit getting tighter and many major lenders having to deal with loans that might have not been made in a less boisterous market, the same survey showed 28 percent of those homeowners surveyed planned to increase their spending on home improvements.
Those concerned about the housing market are instead cutting back on entertainment and discretionary spending. Nineteen percent of homeowners plan to decrease their spending on travel and vacations and another 19 percent say they are decreasing spending on dining out.
While this is not good new for DisneyWorld and McDonald's and those whose investment portfolios include them, it shows how complicated trying to gauge public opinion can be. Often, what the surveys say and what the respondents are really thinks bear no resemblance. Gopal Ahluwalia, the veteran vice president of research for the National Association of Home Builders, who periodically produces a study titled "What New Home Buyers Want," acknowledges that the wish list of the buyers the NAHB surveys gets much smaller once they have to write checks. Each one of these surveys that buyers want more and more -- more space and more amenities but want it for an unrealistically low price.
posted by Ken Calhoon at 7:20 AM
1 Comments:
"Each one of these surveys that buyers want more and more -- more space and more amenities but want it for an unrealistically low price."
The inverse of this statement is where the sellers are. In the last few years they have wanted more and more money for less (land, SqFt, amenities) at unrealistically hight prices. The lenders enabled this trend by cheap and easy money. The prices have been unrealistically high (based on salaries and physical construction costs) so an offer that is now considered unrealistically low is really right in line with standard appreciation. If this goes on long enough, I'm sure both buyers and sellers will start being more realistic and realize that both sides need to meet in the middle.
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