Poor Credit Tops List of Homeownership Barriers. Rents Seen Rising

Fannie Mae's latest National Housing Survey shows that Americans have markedly changed their perception of homeownership.

The most recent survey, conducted between October and December 2010, revealed that 64 percent of respondents felt buying a home was a safe investment.  This is 6 points below the responses given in a January 2010 survey and 19 points below the answers to an initial survey conducted in 2003.  Persons who are currently renting or who are delinquent on their mortgages ranked home owning even lower with 53 percent of both subgroups feeling it was a safe investment.

Americans have grown more confident about the stability of home prices than they were one year ago although this is not matched by their attitudes regarding strength in the economy.  A majority (78 percent) feel that home prices will either stay the same or go up (73 percent held this position in January) versus 19 percent who expect further declines.  Expectations among the 26 percent expecting an increase were modest; the average projected increase was 0.4 percent. 

A larger share of respondents - 39 percent - expects rents to increase over the next year with the average estimate of increase at 2.8 percent.

Financial reasons were most frequently named as significant obstacles to owning a home; poor credit topped the list.  Seventy-three percent of delinquent borrowers and 42 percent of renters cited income which is insufficient for their existing expenses.   Seventy-nine percent of renters believe they would have to make a financial sacrifice to own a home and 54 percent say it would require a "great deal" of sacrifice.

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/02282011_housing_attitudes.asp

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