Kenneth Bargers Blog

Home Ownership Ranks High, But No Buyer Urgency

More than 68 percent of home owners and renters in a recent survey say now is a good time to buy a home. In fact, one-third of renters and one in five home owners say they want to buy a home within the next two years.

“We thought people would be soured after watching home values fall, but instead we found the typical American still places high value on home ownership,” says Frank Anton, chief executive officer of Hanley Wood, which conducted the survey of 3,000 home owners and renters.

So where’s the buying rush?

The survey found that while buyers say they want to buy, they are hesitant because of the tightening of credit that is making mortgages harder to get, uneasiness about job security, and an overall bleak job picture.

Kent Colton, a senior fellow at Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, told Reuters News he expects a big change for the real estate market, however. He notes that more Americans — about one-third of home owners and a quarter of renters — are moving in with family and friends, known as “doubling up.” This, he says, will be a major source of future housing demand as soon as the job market improves.

“It means you have up to 2 million people that are part of what can be easily considered a pent-up demand when the time changes,” Colton told Reuters.

Source: “Americans Want to Buy Homes But in No Hurry,” Reuters News (Oct. 4, 2011); Daily Real Estate News; Blog distribution provided by Kenneth Bargers and Bargers Solutions, a proud member of Pilkerton Realtors, residential real estate services located in Nashville, Tennessee

October 5, 2011 Posted by kbargers | real estate | americans want to buy homes but in no hurry, bargers solutions, blog, daily real estate news, frank anton, hanley wood, harvard university housing studies, home buying, home ownership ranks high, kenneth bargers, kent colton, Nashville, october 2011, pilkerton realtors, rent to buy, reuters news, survey, tennessee | Leave a Comment