A recent survey commissioned by Move, Inc. (operator of Realtor.com®) found some interesting changes in attitude about homeownership.  And some of the findings surprised me, based on what I’d been reading in the news.

Here are some highlights from the National Homeownership Survey:

·         23% of adults plan to purchase a home in the next five years; more than half of them (53.5%) are first time homebuyers.

·         18.1% of adults plan to buy a home this year in order to take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit recently passed as part of the economic stimulus package.

·         18.9% of homeowners plan to take advantage of the administration’s new program to help prevent foreclosures.

·         While the pundits would have us believe that most homeowners are facing foreclosure because they bought more house than they could afford, according to the survey unemployment (recent or feared future) is the top reason why Americans are afraid they may face foreclosure. 

·         I’ve blogged before about “jingle mail” and the idea that walking away from your home makes sense to some people.  But in reality, Americans are working hard to make their mortgage payments.  According to the survey, 72% of adults reduced spending in the past year in order to make monthly mortgage or rent payments, mostly by cutting discretionary spending such as vacations, entertainment and eating out (75%), personal items such as clothing, personal care and personal luxuries (72%), and energy costs such as gasoline and utilities 71.6%.

·         “The Move survey uncovered changing attitudes towards owning a home. About two-thirds (62.5%) now consider their home primarily a place to live as opposed to an investment.”

·         “Americans believe that cracking down on mortgage fraud (56.9%), lower interest rates (51.6%) and giving first time home buyers tax breaks as incentives to buy (43.5%) are the top three solutions that would have the most impact in stabilizing the housing market. Opinion is split over whether the government is doing enough to stabilize the housing market, with 46.2% indicating ‘yes’ and 43.8% indicating ‘no’.”

What do you think? How would you have responded if you were asked some of those questions?  Click on the “Comments” link to join the discussion!