Housing Recovery on ‘Firm Footing’ According to Fannie Mae

Year-over-year gains in Americans’ attitudes toward homeownership show that the housing recovery continues to move forward on firm footing, despite a drop in housing sentiment during the fall, according to Fannie Mae’s December National Housing Survey results.

Almost half (49 percent) of consumers surveyed believe home prices will go up over the next 12 months, compared to 43 percent in December 2012; and they expect home prices to rise 3.2 percent, compared to 2.6 percent last year.

Those who say it’s a good time to sell a home rose significantly to 33 percent from 21 percent in December 2012. And, despite higher mortgage rates, consumers are more optimistic about their access to mortgage credit than they were a year ago and half (50 percent) say it would be easy to get a home mortgage today compared to 45 percent last year.

“The marked improvement in housing market sentiment over the course of 2013 bore out our view going into the year that the housing recovery was on a firm footing,” says Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae. “Year-over-year gains in home price expectations and attitudes about the current selling environment were particularly notable” and “consumer attitudes about the ease of getting a mortgage today are at their highest level in the survey’s three-and-a-half-year history.”

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