10 Apr Consumers Increasingly Optimistic about Economy, Housing
Amid continued strengthening in employment, consumer optimism toward the economy is growing and appears to be contributing to further improvement in overall housing sentiment, according to results from Fannie Mae’s February 2015 National Housing Survey.
The share of respondents who believe the economy is headed in the right direction increased 3 percentage points in February to an all-time survey high of 47 percent, while the share who believes it is headed in the wrong direction decreased to 45 percent, a new survey low.
“Continuing improvements in consumer attitudes in the National Housing Survey lend support to our expectation that 2015 will be a year of the economy dragging housing upward,” says Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae. “The share of consumers who think the economy is on the right track rose to a record high since the inception of the survey nearly five years ago and for the first time exceeded the share who believes it’s on the wrong track. Consumer confidence seems to be getting a boost from employment growth. This is reflected in their views on the ease of getting a mortgage today, which also reached a survey high in February. We continue to see strength in attitudes about the current home buying and selling environment and consistently high shares of consumers saying they expect to buy a home on their next move. At the same time, we still need to see further growth in consumer optimism toward personal finances and income for more robust improvement in housing market attitudes.”
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Consumers Increasingly Optimistic about Economy, Housing (RIS Media Article)