September Mortgage Trends: Expectations Turn Bearish

Will housing prices to continue to fall? According to the Chicago Booth/Kellogg School Financial Trust Index, respondents were pessimistic. In the quarterly survey that gauges Americans’ trust in the nation’s financial system, 30% of respondents expected housing prices to fall in the next 12 months, compared to 20% a quarter earlier.

Along with the negative outlook for home prices, individuals were cynical about future employment as a growing proportion of respondents feared that unemployment will rise.

Meanwhile in August, the twenty-city Case-Shiller Index, a gauge of existing home prices, fell for the first time since March. Our full Housing and Mortgage Market Trend Sheet, located in the "OCE Documents of Interest" column at the right, is now updated with September figures. The trend sheet includes sales, pricing, construction, underwriting and delinquency data.