Americans’ views of housing market worst ever recorded: Gallup

Americans’ views of the housing market hit an all-time low this year with more than three-quarters saying it’s a bad time to buy a home, according to a new poll. 

Gallup’s annual Economy and Personal Finance poll found that just 21 percent of U.S. adults believe it’s a good time to buy a home – marking only the second time since the poll’s inception in 1978 that fewer than half of survey respondents believed it was a good time to buy.  

The highest confidence level in the poll’s history was recorded in 2003 before falling off in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis.  

This year’s findings follow the previous survey record low set last year when close to 30 percent of those surveyed said it was a good time to buy a home. 

The poll’s results are based on telephone interviews conducted between April 3-25 with a random sample of 1,013 adults from all 50 states and Washington, D.C. 

Home prices have soared in the past two years and mortgage rates have climbed along with them while the Federal Reserve battled growing inflation with a series of jumbo interest rate hikes.  

The effects of the Fed’s rate increases trickled down into the housing market and sent mortgage rates sailing past 7 percent between Spring and Winter in 2022.  

But rates have moderated and are currently hovering around 6.3 percent. And housing economists expect the Fed to pause rate increases in the current cycle as inflation shows signs of cooling. 

As the housing market has cooled, so have Americans expectations for home values in their areas, the Gallup poll found. In 2022, 70 percent predicted home prices in their area would increase in the next year. Fifty-six percent held that view this year. 

However, the poll found that expectations for home values trounce numbers recorded following the housing market crash from 2009 to 2012 when between 22 and 34 percent thought home values would increase.  

Despite current views on whether it is a good time to buy a house, many Americans still believe real estate is the best long-term investment, according to a separate Gallup poll released last week. The poll found 34 percent of Americans holding this view, which is on par with the typical year.  

Still, this marked a significant drop off from record breaking levels set the previous year when nearly half said real estate was the best long-term investment.