Sixty-five percent of real estate professionals expect home values to increase in the next six months, up from 51 percent from last quarter; Sixty-one percent disapprove of Obama’s performance as President
by Louis Cammarosano
HomeGain, one of the first websites to provide free instant home valuations online, announced the results of its nationwide fourth quarter 2012 home values survey. Over 200 real estate agents and brokers and over 1,500 homeowners were surveyed. We also released the regional results of the fourth quarter 2012 HomeGain home values survey.
Real estate professionals continue to be more optimistic about the direction of home values than homeowners. Sixty-five percent of real estate professionals expect home values to increase in the next six months, up from 51 percent last quarter and up from 15 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011. Thirty-nine percent of homeowners expect home values to increase in the next six months, up from 34 percent last quarter.
Eleven percent of real estate professionals expect home values to decrease in the next six months, unchanged from last quarter. Twenty percent of homeowners expect home values to decrease in the next six months, also unchanged from last quarter.
Twenty-four percent of real estate professionals and 41 percent of homeowners believe home values will stay the same in the next six months.
Seventy-nine percent of real estate professionals and 62 percent of homeowners think home values will increase in the next two years. In contrast, just 11 percent of real estate professionals and 17 percent of home owners think home values will decrease in the next two years. Ten percent of real estate professionals and 31 percent of homeowners think home values will stay the same in the next two years.
According to surveyed agents and brokers, seventy-five percent of homeowners believe their homes are worth more than the recommended agent listing price. In contrast, sixty-three percent of home buyers believe homes are overpriced.
“We are seeing a continued increase in optimism about the direction of home prices,” said Louis Cammarosano, General Manager of HomeGain. “Real estate agents expect the recent pick up in the real estate market to continue in the coming two years.”
Top 10 States Where Real Estate Agents and Homeowners Think Home Prices Will Go Up in the Next Six Months:

Top 10 States Where Real Estate Agents and Homeowners Think Home Prices Will Go Down In the Next Six Months:

Forty-six percent of agents and brokers surveyed indicated that they “strongly disapproved” and 15 percent “somewhat disapproved” of Barack Obama’s performance as President, earning him a 61 percent disapproval rating, a decrease of six percent in the disapproval rating of agents and brokers surveyed in the third quarter of 2012. In a year-over-year comparison with the fourth quarter of 2011, the President had a 70 percent disapproval rating among agents and brokers.
Thirty-nine percent of homeowners “strongly disapproved” and 11 percent “somewhat disapproved” of the President’s performance, earning him a 50 percent disapproval rating. The President had a 56 percent disapproval rating last quarter among surveyed homeowners with 45 percent “strongly disapproving.” The Rasmussen Daily Presidential Approval Index taken during the same period as the HomeGain Fourth Quarter 2012 Home Values Survey indicated that President’s average approval rating was 55 percent and the average disapproval rating was 44 percent, with an average of 30 percent “strongly approving” of his performance and an average of 34 percent “strongly disapproving” of his performance.
Top 10 States Where Real Estate Agents and Homeowners Approve of Barack Obama’s Performance as President:

Top 10 States Where Real Estate Agents and Homeowners Disapprove of Barack Obama’s Performance as President:

The survey was conducted from November 27 – December 6, 2012.
View all prior HomeGain national and state home prices surveys.
Set forth below are the results of the fourth quarter 2012 and third quarter 2012 national home values surveys as well as the results of the fourth quarter 2011 survey. Also set forth below for selected questions is the national home owner response data for the fourth quarter of 2012. Click on each question to see complete results:
Questions and National Results:
- Have home prices increased, decreased or stayed the same in the last year?
- On average, what do homeowners believe that their home is worth?
- How do buyers feel that homes for sale are priced?
- What is the average difference in price between what sellers believe their home to be worth and the amount at which the home gets listed?
- What is the average difference in price between what a home is listed at and what a home sells for?
- In the next six months, will the values of homes in your market increase, decrease or stay the same?
- In the next two years, will the values of homes in your market increase, decrease or stay the same?
- What percentage of homes for sale are foreclosures in your area?
- What is the average home price in your area?
- What percentage of your clients are first-time buyers?
- How do you think Barack Obama is performing in his role as President?
Continue reading this post