New Blog: Is Home Ownership Still the American Dream?

This week, Fannie Mae released their 2nd quarter National Housing Survey.  They surveyed over 3000 Americans with questions concerning today’s housing market and here's what your fellow Americans are saying.  

The most important reasons they are buying

Two in three Americans say the lifestyle benefits of home ownership are superior to the financial benefits. The top reasons cited were it means having a good place to raise children and provide them with a good education. You have a physical structure where you and your family feel safe, with more space. And you have control over what you do with your living space, like renovations and updates.

Home ownership as an investment

Although the top reasons for buying were not financial, they still felt that there were financial benefits to owning a home. The majority felt that home ownership is a ‘safe’ investment, and believe that home ownership has more potential as an investment than any other traditional asset class. Since the time of purchase, 63 percent of Homeowners have seen their home value increase over time

It's better then paying rent

The majority said they felt that paying rent is not a good investment and most renters (three out of four) think that owning is better then renting. And again, lifestyle plays a big part. Where most homeowners (96 percent) live in single family homes, almost half of the renters lived in a multi-family building. Ninety-five percent of homeowners see home ownership as a positive experience while less of the renters see renting as a positive experience. Plus they think renting will become more expensive (On average, respondents expect home rental prices to go up by 3.5 percent )

It is a good time to buy

With mortgage rates at a 30 year low (more on this in a future blog) and housing prices low and expected to remain low, almost 70 percent think that now is a good time to buy a home (this number has increased in each of the last two quarters).

So what does all this mean?

Even with all the panic over the economy and the lack of consumer confidence due to the uncertainty of the time, Americans still believe in the value of home ownership.

Now is a great time to buy a home!