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May 18, 2011 - Press Release

TRULIA and REALTYTRAC Survey Reveals 54 percent of American Adults Now Believe Housing Recovery Remains Unlikely Until 2014 or Later

SAN FRANCISCO, May 18, 2011 – Trulia, a top resource for homebuyers, sellers and renters, and RealtyTrac, the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released the latest results of an ongoing survey that has tracked American attitudes toward foreclosed homes since 2008. Harris Interactive® conducted this online survey on their behalf from April 15 to 19, 2011, among 2,018 U.S. adults aged 18 and over.

American Expectations for Housing Market Recovery Falters
As more cities across the nation experience double dips in home prices[1], more than half (54 percent) of U.S. adults believe recovery in the housing market will not happen until 2014 or later, according to the survey released today. In a previous survey conducted six months ago[2], 42 percent of American adults said they thought the market would turn around by 2012 or had already turned around. Now, only 23 percent continue to think this will happen.

When American Adults Believe Housing Market Will Recover
	April 2011	November 2010	% Change
Already Recovered [3]	5%	5%	0%
By the end of 2011	3%	10%	-70%
In 2012	15%	27%	-44%
In 2013	24%	24%	0%
2014 or Later	54%	34%	59%

Expectations for Buying a Foreclosure
More than half of U.S. renters (56 percent) and 47 percent of current homeowners are at least somewhat likely to purchase a foreclosed home. Along with having some concerns about hidden costs, a risky buying process and loss in home value, many potential buyers expect to save money if they buy a foreclosure versus a similar non-foreclosed home. In fact, American adults expect to pay 38 percent less for a foreclosed home than a similar home that was not in foreclosure – not too far above the average discount of 36 percent on sales of bank-owned homes (REO) compared to sales of homes not in foreclosure reported in the RealtyTrac 2010 Foreclosure Sales Report.

Expected Discount for Buying a Foreclosed Home vs. Similar Non-Foreclosed Home
	Total	Homeowner	Rental
No Discount	2%	2%	3%
1 to 15% Less	8%	8%	6%
16 to 29% Less	23%	23%	23%
30 to 49% Less	30%	31%	30%
More than 50% Less	36%	35%	39%

“Most Americans, as our latest survey revealed, overestimated how quickly the housing market would bounce back, but when it does, it will likely be a long and gradual process. Looking at the recent double dips in home prices, I expect the rest of 2011 to be volatile for real estate,” said Pete Flint, co-founder and CEO, Trulia. “On the flip side, mortgage rates won’t stay low forever and even if home prices continue to fall for a bit, now is still a good time to enter the housing market. In my eyes, we have another 18 months until we start to see signs of price stability in the housing market.”
PETE FLINT, CEO OF TRULIA

"Our survey reflects a growing perception among potential homebuyers that the housing recovery is still a long way off," said Rick Sharga, senior vice president of RealtyTrac. "Demand remains weak, loans are increasingly difficult to qualify for, and the shadow inventory of several million distressed properties is weighing down the market. All of these things need to improve before housing can recover.
RICK SHARGA, SVP OF REALTYTRAC

Methodology
This April 2011 survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive via its QuickQuery(SM) online omnibus service on behalf of Trulia between April 15-19, 2011 among 2,018 U.S. adults aged 18 years and older. The sample included 1,257 homeowners, 906 of whom currently have a mortgage, and 704 renters. Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words “margin of error” as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

[1] S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, published April 26, 2011

[2] Survey conducted online for Trulia and RealtyTrac by Harris Interactive from November 2-4, 2010

[3] The percentage of Americans who believed recovery would happen in 2010 during the November 2010 survey were bundled into the “Already Recovered” category in order to do a year-over-year comparison with the April 2011 survey.