Fannie Mae released their monthly consumer attitudinal survey report, with results from June finding that Americans now expect a decline of 0.5 percent in home prices over the next year; this is slightly more optimistic than the beliefs measured in the previous month; approximately 22 percent expect prices to go up over the next 12 months, according to the report.


In June, 69 percent of respondents believed it is a good time to buy a home; 11 percent said it was a good time to sell a home-possibly due to the belief that the market is trending toward renting.

Opposing this trend, data states that two in three people claimed they would buy if they planned on moving, and three in ten say they would rent their next home.

Survey respondents also said that they expected home rental prices to increase by 3.9 percent over the next year; Fannie Mae noted that this is the highest expectation mark the survey has ever seen. HotPads.com recently reported that rental listing prices have increased 6.7 percent since June 2010.

However, the general consensus that the respondents’ financial situations were going to get better (with two in five selecting this vs. one in five expecting worse finances on the horizon) may help them afford the anticipated rental price increases, ad now only 16 percent of respondents say that their household income has declined (compared to 22 percent in June 2010). Still, 37 percent claim significantly higher household expenses.

In regards to mortgage rates, 48 percent believed they would stay the same, 38 expect them to go up and eight percent said they would go down.