Confidence in Housing Values Plummets
Overall confidence in housing values among homeowners has plummeted, with the number who say their home is worth more than what they owe on their mortgage lower than ever.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Adult Homeowners shows that just 45% now say their home is worth more than what they currently owe on their mortgage. That’s down six points from May and is the lowest level measured in more than two years of regular tracking. Prior to the latest survey, this finding had ranged from a low of 49% to a high of 61% since late 2008.
Thirty-six percent (36%) report their home’s value is not worth more than the amount they owe on their mortgage, showing little change over the past several months. One in five (20%) now are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
Homeowners are increasingly pessimistic when talking about the value of their homes in the short and long term. Thirty-seven percent (37%) now expect their home's value to go down over the next year, up 10 points from last month and the highest negative finding to date. Just 16% believe their home’s value will be higher in a year's time, showing little change from the past two months.
Forty-four percent (44%) expect their home values to stay about the same over the next year, also down 10 points from a month ago.
Twenty-six percent (26%) believe their home’s value will go down in five years’ time, up 10 points over the past month and well above findings over the past two years. Thirty-five percent (35%) expect home values to go up over the next five years, down from 43% last month and the lowest finding yet measured. Twenty-nine percent (29%) expect the value to stay about the same over the next five years.
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The survey of 713 Homeowners was conducted on June 17-18, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
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