June 21, 2011 (Chris Moore)

The number of homeowners who say their home is worth more than what they owe is at the lowest level in more than 2 years as overall confidence in housing values plummeted in May according to the latest Rasmussen Reports poll.

Only 45 percent of the homeowners in the survey thought their home is worth more than what they owed on their mortgage in May. Since late 2008, the monthly poll has ranged from a previous low of 49 percent to a high of 61 percent.

Just over one-third, thirty-six percent, thought that their home’s value was less than what they owed and 20 percent were not sure.

Over the next year, the poll showed an increasing pessimism among homeowners as the number of homeowners who thought their home will be worth less in a year than it is today spiked 10 percent from April’s poll to 37 percent in May, which was the highest level ever reported.

And the level of pessimism didn’t diminish much with time, as 26 percent of the homeowners thought the value of their home will still be less in five years than it is today, also a 10 percent leap from April’s poll.

Meanwhile, just 16 percent of the homeowners thought their homes will be worth more in a year and 44 percent thought their homes will be worth the same as they are today. Only 35 percent of the homeowners thought their home would be worth more in 5 years, while 29 percent said their homes would be worth the same that they are today.

Almost half of the homeowners surveyed, fifty-one percent, said their home was worth more than when they originally bought it, even though 75 percent said they had bought their current home more than five years ago.

Twenty percent thought their home was worth about the same amount that they bought it for and 26 percent said their home is worth less now than when they bought it.

Tags: Rasmussen Reports, homeowner confidence, housing values, homeowners, pessimism

Source:
Rasmussen Reports