The majority of Americans believe that housing is still a good financial investment

The majority of Americans nevertheless believe in real estate as a good long term investment. It seems an odd thing to think, given that the average value of a home has dropped by almost a 3rd since 2006. Furthermore, more than a quarter of all homes are now worth less than the amount of money that is owed for them. Housing will eventually recover its value, but it may take a while.

Housing confidence in Americans

The majority of Americans are confident in real estate investments even with the economic downturn, a survey noted. Reuters states that 81 percent of Americans thought that a long term financial investment in real estate was a good idea according to the Pew Research Center. The Social and Demographic Trends project, as part of the Pew Research Center, surveyed over 2,000 adults asking if a home was the best long term investment. 44 percent said that they “somewhat agreed” while 37 percent said they “strongly agreed” with the statement. About 23 percent of individuals said that if they could go back and do it again, they wouldn’t have purchased their home. Still, most people believe homes will recover in three years.

Several hopeful

Realtors, according to MSNBC, are hoping that sales pick up during the spring and summer of 2011 and the current trend of slowing sales is reversed. The number of home sales and values may end up staying down though which realtors and housing industry analysts are worried about considering the amount of underwater mortgages. The National Association of Realtors has high hopes. It thinks that this year alone there could be a 7.4 percent increase in home sales. One of the biggest grievances from the housing industry has been that lenders are being too stingy, and standing in the way of the recovery that would benefit them by being too conservative with loan capital.

Skeptics created

The real estate industry is in a hard place right now. The American Dream is danger due to this. Robert Shiller, Case-Shiller Index co-founder, was quoted in a USA Today article that said security and lifestyle reasons are the only ones that individuals have to buy a home. There was another economist that talked about the return on a home. Usually, the return is around 6 percent. A lot of people may not get much of a return at all too considering depressed prices and fees.

Articles cited

Reuters

reuters.com/article/2011/04/12/us-usa-housing-survey-idUSTRE73B0T220110412

MSNBC

msnbc.msn.com/id/42521765/ns/business-real_estate/

USA Today

usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2011-03-20-home-ownership.htm