81% afflicted with housing depression

July 25 06:05:01 AM, Chicago Tribune

I f you're apprehensive about the job market, one field that seems to keep plenty of people employed is the public-opinion polling business, judging by the quantity of real-estate related surveys that wash up on my desk.

If you're apprehensive about the job market, one field that seems to keep plenty of people employed is the public-opinion polling business, judging by the quantity of real-estate related surveys that wash up on my desk.

Three recent insights into the housing mind set:

•Is the glass half-empty or half-full? After surveying people who plan to buy a home, Move Inc. reports that 44 percent believe the housing market will improve once the new president takes office in January. Of course, this number also means that 56 percent don't think anything of the kind.

Nonetheless, there are nuggets in this study of about 2,500 adults, roughly 1,400 of whom said they plan to buy a home in the current real estate market. Perhaps most significant: 81 percent of buyers said they were "nervous" about the market. An equal number said they see barriers to their own ability to buy a home, such as lacking a down payment (28 percent), their income (20 percent), lack of confidence in the economy (26 percent) and high prices (31 percent).

That 81 percent recurs: That's the number who said they wished the process of taking out a mortgage was easier to understand, according to Harris Interactive, which conducted the study for Move Inc.

And how will these future (albeit nervous) buyers decide where to live? Perhaps surprisingly, they said concern about crime trumped "proximity to daily conveniences" (the old "location, location, location") 56 to 47 percent.

•Architects report that the homes they're being asked to design seem to be getting smaller.

The American Association of Architects says its regular survey of its membership suggests that the bigger-is-better trend may be over. The average size of a new home has increased almost 50 percent in the last 30 years. In a recent AIA study, however, twice as many respondents reported home-size declines as reported increases (35.5 percent to 15.5 percent, the AIA said).

The trade group speculates that there may be several reasons: the slowing of the American economy, the sagging of the housing market, demographic changes (that is, aging) in our population and a growing awareness of energy costs and the environmental impact of building.

On a related note, the architects said volume—the industry term for high ceilings and two-story foyers—also is on the decline. Those darn energy costs.

Of course, it's hard to extrapolate trends in home building when comparatively few homes are being built.

The AIA describes conditions at residential architecture firms as "very depressed."

•If you're middle-age, the mortgage foreclosure situation is worrisome, but it's somebody else's problem. That's the conclusion of a new report from AARP. The group surveyed about 1,000 adults 45 and older.

A majority (58 percent) said they're not concerned about the impact of foreclosures on their financial or housing situations.

But a 89 percent said they're concerned about how they'll affect the economy or their neighborhood. About one-quarter said, however, they were having trouble paying their mortgage or rent.

About 2 percent said they had been through a foreclosure in the last year.

Remember that 81 percent? That same number say they regard the the economy as "fairly bad" or "very bad."

Gas price shock?Maybe the gloomy 81 percent can take some comfort in the fact that though the cost of parking a car continues to blow one's mind, median parking rates in U. S. cities didn't make the Top 10 of a new international survey.

Colliers International, a network of independent commercial real estate firms, says the priciest daily rate is in London, at a median $68.

Want a monthly pass? That's likely to set you back $1,167.

Chicago, it said, has a daily median price of $30 (third in the U.S.), with monthly, unreserved spots going for $310 (fourth place in the U.S.).



Hear Mary Umberger at 12:49 and 11:15 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday and at 10:30 a.m. Saturday and Sunday on WGN-AM 720. Write to her at Real Estate, Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., 4th Floor, Chicago, IL 60611 or send e-mail to housingnews@comcast.net.

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