2 out of 3 buyers believe home prices will rise

A new Gallup poll finds that homeowner confidence has hit a new high.

According to Gallup, 61 percent of U.S. adults believe home prices will rise in the next year, marking the biggest percentage since Gallup began gathering data on these views in 2005. It’s also a notable increase from 2008-2112, during which less than a third of respondents held an optimistic view on future real estate prices.

“While Americans’ optimism is not yet back to where it was during the housing boom in the mid-2000s, it is now the closest it has been since the housing bubble burst in 2007,” Gallup said in its analysis.

Nearly 75 percent of respondents in the West anticipate home price gains in the next year, compared with slightly more than 50 percent in the East and Midwest. Gallup attributes this confidence in part to low mortgage rates.

The survey also found that 67 percent of respondents believe now is a good time to buy a home, down from more than 70 percent in 2012-2014. Of those, 74 percent are homeowners and 56 percent are renters.

“These trends suggest that Americans’ beliefs on this matter are influenced by the health of the housing market, but also by their philosophical beliefs about the benefits of homeownership,” Gallup said. “To this end, more Americans choose real estate than other options when asked to name the best investment.”

Source: Florida Realtors