Real estate executives feel cautiously optimistic
According to the 2013 Imprev Thought Leader Survey, real estate executives are feeling optimistic toward housing, but not without caution. In a nationwide survey taken after the federal government re-opening, real estate broker-owners and top executives lean toward a positive outlook, but uncertainty remains rampant in the industry.
“Their enthusiasm appears to be tempered,” said Renwick Congdon, Imprev CEO. “We are in a better place than we were last year, so these results are somewhat surprising.”
Outlook on housing and the economy
Imprev’s study revealed that 56 percent of respondents believe housing will improve in the next year, but only 2.0 percent believe it will improve significantly, while 35 percent say it will stay the same, and 7.0 percent believe it will deteriorate.
“That’s less rosy than their views last year,” the company notes, “when the 2012 Imprev Thought Leader Survey found 70 percent of top real estate executives predicting the housing market would continue to improve over the coming year.”
Confidence in the 2014 housing market is tempered, with 72 stating they are only “somewhat confident” and 24 percent reporting they are “very confident” in the 2014 housing market. Under 5.0 percent report they are “not at all confident” in the 2014 housing market, which Imprev calls “good news.”
Regarding the overall economy, 46 percent of respondents believe it will improve in the next year, 51 percent say it will stay the same, and 13 percent believe it will deteriorate.
“Overall economic confidence increased significantly when the executives are looking closer to home,” Imprev notes. “More than three times as many say their confidence in their local economies has improved since January, vs. overall confidence that the world economy has improved.”
The level of economic confidence among respondents has diminished across all economic sectors when compared to last year’s survey. Global economic confidence is 14 percent in 2013 versus 16 percent in 2012. U.S. economic confidence is 21 percent versus 47 percent; State economic confidence is 39 percent versus 65 percent; Local economic confidence is 46 percent versus 77 percent.
Broker optimism centers around profitability
Despite their views on the national economy, 95 percent of respondents say they are confident that their real estate brokerage businesses will be more profitable in the next 12 months than they are today; nearly half say they are “very confident” (48 percent) and 47 percent say they are “somewhat confident.”
With political and economic uncertainty lingering, it appears that real estate executives are focused on their own practice with the belief that they can control their profits and growth regardless of a stagnating economy.
