Employment, prices biggest concerns of builders

LAS VEGAS – The inability to sell currently owned homes and concerns about employment and economy are the biggest issues keeping prospective homebuyers out of the real estate market, according to polling done by the National Association of Home Builders.
“The vast majority – 91 percent – of the members polled in our January Builders’ Economic Council Survey said that buyers are staying out of the market because they cannot sell their homes,” NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe said in a statement. “And 88 percent said that buyers are reluctant because of fears about employment and the economy. Concerns over jobs and the economy has increased significantly since June, when 63 percent of the builders surveyed cited it as a cause for consumer reluctance.”
The poll also found that 75 percent of builders think housing prices will continue to fall and 68 percent “said that buyers think it is hard to get financing,” NAHB said.
“These results make it clear that Congress must include significant housing measures in any economic stimulus legislation that it enacts,” Crowe said.
The National Association of Home Builders, a trade group founded in 1942, produces in-depth economic analyses of the home building industry based on private and government data. To learn more, visit www.nahb.org.