Trulia today released the latest findings from the Trulia Price Monitor and the Trulia Rent Monitor, the earliest leading indicators available of trends in home prices and rents. Based on the for-sale homes and rentalslisted on Trulia, these monitors take into account changes in the mix of listed homes and reflect trends in prices and rents for similar homes in similar neighborhoods through May 31, 2012. Continue reading “Home Prices Flat in May After Three Straight Months of Increases, as Foreclosure Prices Decline“
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Survey reveals tenants are not rushing to buy a home…also shows the “McMansion” craze is over…  Dennis Norman Trulia.com released the results of its recent “American Dream” survey on attitudes toward home ownership which, not surprisingly to me, shows interest in the “American Dream” of home-ownership has cooled a little. According to the survey, 27 percent of renters indicated that they do not plan to buy a home — ever. Of those renters who do plan to purchase someday, 68 percent said it would be more than two years before they do. Continue reading “One Out of Four Renters Never Plan to Own a Home“ Even in Tough Times, 77 Percent of Americans View Homeownership as a Part of Their Own Personal American Dream
The current survey found that 37 percent of Americans gave President Obama a grade of “D” or “F” on the decisions he’s made towards restoring the American dream of home ownership compared to only 22 percent in the February 2009 survey. Additionally, 54 percent gave him a grade of “A” or “B” in February 2009 compared to only 37 percent in January 2010. Despite these lower grades, and the troubles that have continued to plague the U.S. housing market, the survey found that the “American Dream” of homeownership continues to be alive and well with more than three out of four Americans considering owning a home as a part of achieving their personal American dream. “I am thrilled to see that the American dream of homeownership is alive. If the dream had died we would be in a lot of trouble,” said Pete Flint, CEO and co-founder of Trulia. “Everyone realizes there is no easy fix and we have a long road ahead. Until there is a reversal in unemployment and the growing number of home foreclosures, the U.S. real estate market will continue to see significant volatility. I agree with the results of our survey that job creation and job security have to be the President’s top priority.” President Obama’s Report Card Democrats currently rate President Obama’s performance higher than Republicans, but both downgraded the President’s performance in the January 2010 survey compared to the survey Trulia conducted in February 2009. The current survey shows that “A” ratings from Democrats decreased by 19 percentage points and a 3 percentage point decrease from Republicans. Additionally, “F” ratings from Democrats increased by 3 percentage points and by 13 percentage points from Republicans.
Priorities Going Forward Democrats and Republicans agree on the areas President Obama needs to focus on in 2010 to stabilize the U.S. real estate market. Creating jobs and job security continues to be at the top of the list with 62 percent of adults referencing it as a key priority for the President. With foreclosures reaching record levels in 2009 and expected to grow even more this year, it’s not surprising that 45 percent of adults included this as an important area of focus. Rounding out the top three priorities for President Obama is bringing/keeping low interest rates at 39 percent. Only 27 percent of Americans surveyed believe extending the home buying tax credit through the end of 2010 should be a key initiative to help stabilize the housing market.
This sentiment was also echoed on Trulia Voices Community, with many users feeling that President Obama tried to do too much, and that the key to fixing the economy and housing market will be to focus on creating new jobs and job security. Positive and Negative Views The majority of Americans surveyed were unaffected by the events that have transpired during the past year in the housing market, with 60 percent saying their view towards homeownership is unchanged. Slightly more of those surveyed have a more pessimistic than positive outlook with 21 percent saying they have at least a somewhat more negative view towards owning a home compared to 20 percent having at least a somewhat more positive view.
|
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
According to Trulia’s “Metro Movers Report” when people search long-distance for a new home their motivation for the move is warmer weather, not a job. Wow, I can relate to that….. In fact, according to the report, most long distance house hunters are looking in markets with higher unemployment and slower job growth than where they currently live. For example 3 times as many people in Minneaplolis – St Paul (with 6.2 percent unemployment) are looking for homes in Phoenix (where unemployment is 8.5) than vice versa. 
In a report released by Trulia, which looks at changes in asking prices on homes that are for sale as a leading indicator of where the market is headed, asking prices on homes for sale, on a year over year basis, were up 0.2 percent nationally. Here in St. Louis, as the chart below shows, we can see that year–over-year asking prices in the St. Louis MSA are up almost 1 percent, or almost 5 times the national average but still far from the ten MSA’s in the U.S. with the highest price increases (see table below). 
A report released by Trulia shows that, based on current market conditions, it is cheaper to buy a home than rent in 74 percent of major U.S. cities. At the top of the list is Las Vegas with a price rent ratio of 6 (the lower the number, the more affordable it is). At the other end of the spectrum, New York city leads the list of cities where it is cheaper to rent than buy with a price rent ratio six times higher than that of Las Vegas. 
A national survey released yesterday by 
