Consumer confidence in housing continues positive trend despite slow job growth. Americans attitudes about homeownership, the economy, and personal finances continue to move incrementally in a positive direction, according to results from Fannie Mae’s April 2012 National Housing Survey. The continued stabilization of consumer attitudes coupled with growth in areas such as home price expectations, whether it is a good time to sell ones home, direction of the economy, and the percentage of Americans who saw an increase in their personal income indicate an alignment of factors that may influence Americans decision making about purchasing a home.
On average, Americans expect home prices to increase 1.3 percent over the next 12 months (the highest value yet recorded), while the percentage of Americans who say it is a good time to sell their home continued to rise to 15 percent in April (up from low, flat levels during 2011). In turn, confidence in the economy’s direction rose to a survey all-time high in April (hitting 37 percent, an increase of 2 percentage points from last month). Another positive trend is the increased share of those who reported their income as significantly higher from twelve months ago, which is now at the highest level recorded over the past year and 7 percentage points higher than those who reported income as significantly lower‚ (the largest difference between the two since the survey began).