By Marian McPherson | Inman
Low inventory, lack of access to affordable homes, and increased buyer competition are starting to wear on homeowners and renters, making them less optimistic about the housing market, economy and their personal finances as the year comes to a close, according to the National Association of Realtors Housing Opportunities and Market Experience (HOME) survey for the fourth quarter of 2017.
The dip in real estate consumer sentiment comes on the heels of record-high confidence levels reported by NAR in Q3.
Sixty percent of renters believe it’s a good time to buy, and 79 percent of homeowners feel the same way — a 3 and 1 percentage point decrease, respectively, from Q4 2016. Meanwhile, the share of homeowners who feel it’s a good time to sell fell 4 percentage points quarter-over-quarter to 76 percent, which is still 14 percentage points higher than last year.
