</p

The share of people who said theirrnpersonal financial situation would get worse in the next 12 months hit a surveyrnhigh of 22 percent while those who reported significantly higher householdrnincome than 12 months ago fell to 22 points to 20.  One percent more reported significant higherrnhousehold expenses than a year earlier. </p

The Housing Survey is conducted amongrnabout 1,000 homeowners and renters who are asked by phone for responses tornaround 100 question intended to assessrntheir attitudes toward owning and renting a home, home and rental pricernchanges, homeownership distress, the economy, household finances, and overallrnconsumer confidencern</p

Homeowners also cooled on whether it isrna good time to buy a house.  Affirmativernresponses to that question fell to 65 percent, another survey low, from 72rnpercent.  Respondents who thought it wasrna good time to sell also declined from 38 to 37 percent.  Fewer Americans expect mortgage rates tornincrease over the next year, decreasing to 57 percent from 63 percent.</p

</p

The percentage of people who expectrnhomes to appreciate over the next 12 months fell by 4 percentage points to 46rnpercent and those who expect price declines rose by those same 4 points to 10rnpercent.  The average price changernexpectation was 2.9 percent, 0.2 less than in September. Fifty two percent ofrnrespondents expect rents to rise, about the same as last month, but the averagernrent increase anticipated rose by 1 percent to 4.4 percent, a survey high. </p

</p

“Housing market sentiment hasrnclearly suffered in the wake of the recent government shutdown and debt ceilingrndebate,” said Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at FanniernMae. “In October, we saw attitudes toward both the economy and the currentrnbuying environment experience their largest one-month drops in the survey’srnthree-year history. While this decline in consumer optimism may portend arnslowing of the housing recovery, supply constraint data suggest that we arernlikely to see continued positive growth in home prices. That being said,rnOctober’s survey results suggest that consumer attitudes are highly responsivernto ongoing debate and decision-making in Washington. Three key budget and debtrnceiling dates loom in December, January, and February. The handling of eachrnwill likely play a key role in determining the pace and timing of any recoveryrnin consumer sentiment.”

All Content Copyright © 2003 – 2009 Brown House Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.nReproduction in any form without permission of MortgageNewsDaily.com is prohibited.