One in Five Americans Plan to Buy a Home Despite Economic Conditions
23 Março 2009 - 1:02AM
PR Newswire (US)
First Time Buyers Optimistic, Homeowners Search for Solutions to
Stay in Homes LOS ANGELES, March 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- While
half (52%) of all Americans are concerned they or someone they know
will face foreclosure in the next six to 12 months, 23% of adults
plan to purchase a home in the next five years, and more than half
of them (53.5%) are first time homebuyers, according to a new
survey commissioned by Move, Inc., the leader in online real estate
and operator of Realtor.com(R), the #1 homes for sale Web site. The
Move survey also found nearly one out of five homeowners (18.9%)
plan to take advantage of the administration's new program to help
prevent foreclosures. While searching for answers in the past 12
months, 21% of all homeowners with a mortgage contacted a lender to
restructure their loan. Half (10.6%) of those homeowners that
contacted their lender experienced success while 5% still await an
answer. Unemployment is a driving factor causing many Americans to
fear foreclosure, according to the survey. More than a quarter
(27.1%) of adults feel they or someone they know may default on
their mortgage due to recent unemployment (27.1%), future
unemployment (29.3%) or because they owe more on their home than
it's worth (25.6%). One out of eight (15.4%) is having a hard time
making mortgage payments because they've recently increased or
because they have too much debt (18.8%). Determined to remain in
their homes, nearly three-quarters (72%) of adults reduced spending
in the past year in order to make monthly mortgage or rent
payments, mostly by cutting discretionary spending such as
vacations, entertainment and eating out (75%), personal items such
as clothing, personal care and personal luxuries (72%) and energy
costs such as gasoline and utilities (71.6%). Regardless of age,
most Americans are cutting spending back from some aspect of their
life to pay housing costs. Despite today's challenging market
conditions, 18.1% of adults plan to buy a home this year in order
to take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit recently passed by
Congress in the administration's economic stimulus package. "It's
not all doom and gloom. We found Americans are optimistic about
homeownership despite concerns," said Move, Inc., CEO Steve
Berkowitz. "They're doing everything they can, from reducing
discretionary spending to pay their mortgages, to planning to take
advantage of the administration's new program to stop foreclosures.
They're also working with lenders to modify loans. Even more
impactful are numbers that show interest in home ownership is
strong as nearly a quarter of all adults plan to buy a home in the
next five years." Pent-Up Demand Increasing The Move survey found
the housing downturn, now entering its third year, has created
significant demand for homeownership especially among first-time
homebuyers. While 5.8% plan to purchase a home in the next 12
months, 12.8% of Americans say they plan to buy a home in the next
two years and 11% plan to purchase a home in two to five years.
Over half of those planning to buy in 2009 are first-time
homebuyers (53.5%). By comparison, 41% of homebuyers in 2008 were
first-time homebuyers, according to the National Association of
Realtors[1]. While 18.1% of homebuyers do plan to buy this year to
take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit, nearly half (47.6%) said
they didn't know about the credit and 29.3% said it wasn't large
enough for them to act right now. Potential homebuyers with higher
incomes are more interested in the tax credit than those in lower
income brackets, as 43.4% of first-time buyers earning $50,000 or
more say they plan to use the tax credit. Potential buyers are
watching real estate prices more closely today than 12 months ago.
Half of all Americans (49.6%) are paying more attention to home
values today than they were a year ago, especially those aged 25 to
34 (61.9%). The median age of first-time homebuyers is 30 years
old[1]. "Having the wealth of information on home values available
on Realtor.com makes it easy for potential buyers to research and
plan their real estate purchase as they begin their search. In
fact, the average buyer researches properties online for 10
months[1] before contacting a Realtor(R). So quick and convenient
access to information is critical, especially in today's highly
competitive environment," said Errol Samuelson, president of
Realtor.com. "If you're basing a real estate decision on old or
out-of-date information, you risk making a poor decision with
potentially significant financial consequences," explains
Samuelson. "Providing current and detailed information drawn
directly from a local MLS, in conjunction with our 15-minute update
program, educates buyers and sellers on market conditions and
results in more productive conversations with Realtors." Changing
Views of Homeownership The Move survey uncovered changing attitudes
towards owning a home. About two-thirds (62.5%) now consider their
home primarily a place to live as opposed to an investment. Adults
earning up to $20,000 and between $30,000 and $39,900 annually are
significantly more likely to feel most strongly that a home is more
of a place to live than an investment as compared to those earning
$50,000 or more. In light of the fact that homes are more
affordable today, Americans said that if they could purchase more
home for their dollar, bigger is definitely better. Survey results
found today's homeowners value more space by a slight margin (10%)
over a list of other options, including, energy saving features
(6.8%), bigger or nicer yard (6.1%), a better location (4.2%) or
updated amenities (3.4%). Message to Washington: Fix the Economy
The overall economy is by far the most pressing issue on the
domestic agenda in the opinion of Americans (51.8%) and it was the
first choice of survey participants to be the top priority for both
the President and Congress. Health care was a distant second
(15.2%) and the federal debt third (11.7%). Americans believe that
cracking down on mortgage fraud (56.9%), lower interest rates
(51.6%) and giving first time homebuyers tax breaks as incentives
to buy (43.5%) are the top three solutions that would have the most
impact in stabilizing the housing market. Opinion is split over
whether the government is doing enough to stabilize the housing
market, with 46.2% indicating "yes" and 43.8% indicating "no."
Survey Method The results of the survey are based on interviews
conducted from March 6 to 8, 2009. A total of 1,005 interviews were
completed. The margin of error on weighted data is [+/-] three
percentage points for the full sample. The survey was conducted by
OmniTel, in a weekly national telephone omnibus service of GfK
Custom Research North America. The raw data are weighted by a
custom designed computer program, which automatically develops a
weighting factor for each respondent. This procedure employs five
variables: age, sex, education, race and geographic region. Each
interview is assigned a single weight derived from the relationship
between the actual proportion of the population with its specific
combination of age, sex, education, race and geographic
characteristics and the proportion in our sample that week. Tabular
results show both weighted and unweighted bases for these
demographic variables. ABOUT REALTOR.COM(R) REALTOR.com(R), where
the world shops for real estate online, is operated by Move, Inc.,
(NASDAQ:MOVE) and is the official Web site of the National
Association of REALTORS(R). Ranked as the #1 homes-for-sale site,
REALTOR.com(R) currently offers potential homebuyers access to over
four million property listings, as well as the most brokers and
agents. It also provides REALTORS(R) and the home sellers they
represent with the Internet's largest real estate marketplace,
reaching more than 5.7 million consumers in February 2009[2].
Agents and companies have the power to customize REALTOR.com(R)
resources to maximize their brand and productivity. REALTOR(R) and
REALTOR.com(R) are registered trademarks of the NATIONAL
ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS(R). REALTOR(R) is a federally registered
collective membership mark, which identifies a real estate
professional who is a Member of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF
REALTORS(R) and subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics. All other
trademarks appearing above are the property of Move, Inc., or of
their other respective owners. ABOUT MOVE, INC. Move, Inc.
(NASDAQ:MOVE) is the leader in online real estate with 7.4
million[2] monthly visitors to its online network of websites.
Move, Inc. operates: Move.com(R), a leading destination for
information on new homes and rental listings, moving, home and
garden and home finance; REALTOR.com(R), the official Web site of
the National Association of REALTORS(R); Welcome Wagon(R);
Moving.com; SeniorHousingNet(TM); and Top Producer(R) Systems.
Move, Inc. is based in Westlake Village, California. This press
release may contain forward-looking statements, including
information about management's view of Move's future expectations,
plans and prospects, within the safe harbor provisions under The
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements
involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors
which may cause the results of Move, its subsidiaries, divisions
and concepts to be materially different than those expressed or
implied in such statements. These risk factors and others are
included from time to time in documents Move files with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to,
its Form 10-Ks, Form 10-Qs and Form 8-Ks. Other unknown or
unpredictable factors also could have material adverse effects on
Move's future results. The forward-looking statements included in
this press release are made only as of the date hereof. Move cannot
guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or
achievements. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on
these forward-looking statements. Finally, Move expressly disclaims
any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statements
to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. [1] National
Association of REALTORS(R) Profile of Homebuyers and Sellers 2008.
[2] comScore Media Metrics, February 2009 (Logo:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080213/MOVEINCLOGO) (Logo:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090323/LA87113LOGO)
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080213/MOVEINCLOGO
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090323/LA87113LOGO
http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Move, Inc. CONTACT: Julie
Reynolds of Move/Realtor.com, +1-805-557-3080, ; or Victor White of
AccessPR, +1-415-844-6287, , for Move, Inc. Web Site:
http://www.move.com/
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