Over the past month or two, it looked as though the Gulf Shores housing recovery was beginning to soften. According to an article at RisMedia, the results of Fannie Mae's National Housing Survey for August found that even though the jobs market has improved this year, consumers are still concerned about their income.
Gulf Shores Housing Recovery to be Slow and Steady
The number of people who feel now is a good time to buy a home has dropped for the second consecutive month to 64% which is 6% less than in June. This has led to Fannie Mae's predictions that 2015 may not be a breakout year for a Gulf Shores housing recovery after all.
As of now, gains in the jobs market this year haven't yet translated into sufficient increases in income to generate increased consumer confidence for buying a home, even though interest rates are still hovering around all-time lows.
Those who believe that prices will go up during the next year remains steady at 42%, but the numbers who think prices may go down increased to 9%. However, the number of respondents who think interest rates will go up during the next year dropped by four percentage points to 50%.
Just 64% of respondents thought it was a good time to buy a property, equaling the all-time low, and at the same time those who think now is a good time to sell also fell to 38%. The percentage of respondents who thought it would be easier to get a mortgage increased by just 1%.
The percentage of people who said they would buy if they were going to move dropped to 64%, while those who thought they would rent increased to 32%. This is the narrowest gap between these two percentages for more than a year.
Some 44% of respondents to Fannie Mae's survey expect their personal finances to improve over the next year, but those who think their household income is higher than it was a year ago dropped to 23%, a full 5% drop. The percentage of respondents who feel that household expenses have increased over the last 12 months remained steady at 36%.
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