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Fannie Mae: Americans increasingly skeptical on housing | Bedford Corners Real Estate

Consumer attitudes about the direction of the economy overall have grown more negative and Americans’ attitudes toward the housing market remain mixed, according to results from the Fannie Mae July 2014 National Housing Survey.

The share of respondents who believe the economy is on the wrong track increased by 5 percentage points from last month to 59%.

The 12-month home price change that consumers expect declined again in July, falling to 2.3%, and the share of respondents who expect home prices to climb in the next year also continued on a downward trend, falling to 42%.

“The continued cautious sentiment expressed across the range of consumer indicators this month gives weight to our view that the first phase of the housing recovery is decelerating, and 2014 will be a year of mixed housing outcomes with home prices rising more slowly and home sales falling slightly,” said Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae.

“We have always believed that for the housing recovery to be considered robust, we will need strong and sustained full-time job and income growth. Recent data indicating the creation of more than 200,000 jobs over each of the last six months, combined with this month’s improvement in the share of consumers reporting significantly higher household income than a year ago, does provide some reason for optimism. If these trends continue, they could lead to some upside in housing in 2015,” he said.