Despite Fannie Mae’s housing survey that showed consumers might not be ready to commit to homeownership, not all lenders agree.
According to Fannie Mae’s March 2015 National Housing survey, the share of respondents who said they would buy a home if they were to move decreased 5 percentage points to 60% – a new all-time survey low.
“Consumers are being patient prior to entering the housing market. Our March survey results emphasize how critical attitudes about income growth are to consumers’ outlook on housing,” said Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae.
The latest jobs report didn’t bode well for the economy, with private employers adding just 126,000 jobs to payrolls in March, the worst monthly gain since December 2013 and a big miss from analyst expectations.
However, Marcus McCue, executive vice president and chief business development officer with Guardian Mortgage, commented on the report saying, “Our origination activity demonstrates that purchase demand is strong in the markets we serve. Although we realize that surveys may indicate a lower consumer confidence than previous results, we cannot confirm this in the actual pre-approval and transaction volume for repeat and first-time homebuyers.”
“The biggest issue we face in our markets continues to be limited inventory available to accommodate the consumer demand,” he added.
Joe Chapman, regional manager for Bank of Oklahoma Mortgage, spoke on what he is seeing in the state, adding that if the attitude toward home buying is slowing, they are not seeing it in actual transactions in Western Oklahoma.
Chapman said that despite lower oil prices, the Oklahoma City housing market remains stable with purchase percentages holding steady, new construction staying strong, housing prices increasing and the time houses sit on the market decreasing.
“I think we are still seeing the results of pent-up demand,” Chapman adds.
