Dive Brief:
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History shows that when Americans feel good about their job status, they warm up to buying homes. A report released Monday by Fannie Mae offers further evidence of that: A strengthening employment market has pushed consumer optimism upward, and that “appears to be contributing” to optimism about the housing market.
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Still, while the organization’s latest National Housing Survey showed that consumer attitudes toward housing remain positive, potential homebuyers aren’t much more optimistic than they have been for the past few cycles.
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For example, the number of people who said now is a good time to buy a house remained at 67% since the last survey. The percentage of renters who said they would buy a home if they were to move fell 1%, while the number who would continue to rent remained the same.
Dive Insight:
In the telephone survey of 1,000 Americans, more consumers than ever said they believe it would be easy to get a mortgage, and the number who believe it would be difficult to get a mortgage fell to an all-time low.
The number of Americans who feel optimistic about the economy in general also reached a record high.
Fannie Mae Chief Economist Doug Duncan said "2015 will be a year of the economy dragging housing upward”—not the other way around.