WASHINGTON—The economy may be strong and unemployment low, but consumers are still feeling some schizophrenia when it comes to the housing market, according to the December 2014 National Housing Survey from Fannie Mae.
Forty-one percent of consumers believe the economy is headed in the right direction which is actually an increase of five percentage points from the previous survey. Fifty-one percent of those surveyed feel the economy is headed in the wrong direction. But 52% of Americans believe it would be easy to get a mortgage today, which Fannie Mae said is an all-time survey high. One-in-four Americans said their income is significantly higher than it was over one-year earlier, which is flat to the previous survey.
"Despite consistent and robust job growth in recent months, consumer attitudes toward housing remained cautious in the final month of 2014," said Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae senior vice president/chief economist, in a statement. "Our survey results show that consumer housing sentiment has, on average, been moving sideways amid some improvement in the general view of the economy."
Those surveyed who say home prices will go up in the next 12 months rose to 46%, while those who say home prices will go down increased to 8%. Forty-eight percent expect mortgage rates to increase.