Americans’ expected ease of getting a mortgage is at a record high, according to results from Fannie Mae’s February 2015 National Housing Survey.
The share of survey respondents who believe it would be easy to get a home mortgage increased to a record-high 54% while a survey low of 43% think it would be difficult to get a mortgage.
“Continuing improvements in consumer attitudes in this month’s National Housing Survey lend support to our expectation that 2015 will be a year of the economy dragging housing upward,” said Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae, in a statement. “The share of consumers who think the economy is on the right track rose to a record high since the inception of the survey nearly five years ago and for the first time exceeded the share who believe it’s on the wrong track.”
Employment growth is contributing to consumer confidence, Duncan said.
“This is reflected in their views on the ease of getting a mortgage today, which also reached a survey high in February,” he said. “We continue to see strength in attitudes about the current home buying and selling environment and consistently high shares of consumers saying they expect to buy a home on their next move.”
While the latest findings are promising, the market still needs to see further growth in consumer optimism toward personal finances and income for more robust improvement in housing market attitudes, he said.
Written by Cassandra Dowell
