The results from our national American Dream Housing Study conducted by Harris Interactive are in. “70 Percent of Non-Homeowners Have No Plans To Purchase a Home in the Next 12 Months; Nearly Half in 18-34 Age Group Say It’s Too Costly to Purchase a Home in Today’s Market”
With the current state of the financial and housing market, we wanted to get a pulse on what American’s were thinking. Clearly, there is plenty of uncertainty from coast to coast. Some of the results were quite surprising while others shed some positive reinforcement about housing.
Here are some interesting results:
- 70 percent of non-homeowners surveyed say they have no plans to purchase a new home in the next year
- 44 percent of 18-34 year old’s do not own a home right now is because it is too cost-prohibitive
- 41 percent of 35-44 year old respondents polled confirm that concerns about being able to qualify for a home loan is keeping them on the sidelines of home ownership
- 12 percent of non-homeowners say they expect to buy a home in the next 12 months
- 92 percent of homeowners and 70 percent of non-homeowners say they plan on just staying put over the next 12 months
- 49% of homeowners still believe that their home is a great long-term investment
Here are some positive results:
- More than half of all non-homeowners said they still believe home ownership is a central point in achieving their own personal “American Dream.” Women aged 35-44 in the survey agreed on this sentiment more than men aged 35-44 (66 percent versus 47 percent).
- Non-homeowners with an annual household income of $50,000 to $75,000 agreed more strongly (78 percent) on a home being central to achieving their own personal American Dream than those with an annual household income of under $49K or over $75K (51% and 53%, respectively).
- Nearly half (49%) of U.S. homeowners who responded to the survey said they still believe their home is a great long term investment. Interestingly, men (55 percent) were more likely than women (43 percent) to indicate that their home was a great long term investment.
- Some 77 percent of homeowners say they haven’t taken equity from their home in the past 24 months, which offers evidence to help allay some concerns that cheap debt had led many Americans to over-invest in their homes.
- Only 4% of non-homeowners said that “Waiting for the new Housing Recovery Act to take effect” was keeping them from home ownership – suggesting that this act will likely have little effect on home purchases made by those who do not currently own their own home.
For more info, you can find our American Dream press release here.
What are your thoughts on the state of the market and how it effects the American Dream?
Popularity: 62% [?]
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October 2nd, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Instead of looking at the poll, I wonder why no one is studying financial psychology right now. The very best time in my lifetime to purchase stocks was the other day, and all I hear about is people pulling their money out.
Buy Low, Sell High - Age old adage, but I guess it’s still good advice since so many consumers are “staying put,” right now.
If I had more money, I’d be buying and hoarding all the property I could get! (and stocks!)
October 2nd, 2008 at 4:01 pm
I can only echo Joshua’s comments–looking past the financial volatility, we haven’t had this opportunity for low prices in many years. The buyer who doesn’t wait too long to buy, and is buying for the long term, will probably come out ahead in the future, just like in the last down market of the ’90’s.
October 2nd, 2008 at 5:31 pm
@Joshua - Fair points. Many good deals are out there. Agents have an opportunity to help inform and educate the public on the state of the market now more than ever.
@Julia - For many, it’s just hard to look past what’s happening in the financial market. They are worried about their jobs, 401k’s etc…..But, every cloud has a silver lining and those that can buy will and they should work with agents like yourself to help them navigate in these historic times.
December 6th, 2008 at 8:27 am
The potential buyer sitting on the sidelines is going to regret waiting.
How many sellers waited to sell their home hoping they would get more…more…more and looked what happened to them? They waited and now they have missed the boat.
Real Estate typically is a solid investment and historically we go through markets with high and low peaks; some are lucky or savvy and make a pretty penny and some wait too long hoping to get even more bang for their buck and end up with nada.
These buyers are sitting on the sidelines expecting the market to continue to plummet and are waiting for the opportune moment to jump in and buy. You watch… sellers are giving many concessions to sell their home but the gravy train will end…it always does. These buyer prospects sitting back on the sidelines waiting for the “perfect moment” are going to wish they had made a move when the terms could have been more attractive for them.
When our market values continued to climb, we all knew it would have to end and boy did it…on a dime. Many sellers were left regretting not selling when they should have. This too, will happen to the buyers just waiting for the perfect moment to buy. I think we will have many people wishing they would have when they should have.
A perfect marker a buyer ought to consider is almost all Realtors in the business would be buying up property now if we could…We know the time is now!
Real Estate is the backbone of America and if buyers don’t make a move soon, they lose we lose, everyone loses. Sellers are paying to walk away. This too shall end and the buyer sitting on the sideline will regret not playing his hand just like the seller who held his hand regrets not playing it when he should have. Someone always is caught holding out and the time is ripe for the market to turn.