First-time U.S. homebuyers likely to purchase: poll

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Buying a home has never been more affordable by some measures, and potential first-time U.S. buyers said they are likely to buy a home in the next two years, a survey released on Thursday found.
Record low mortgages rates and a new first-time homebuyer tax credit are large incentives, despite obstacles that include greater difficulty getting loans approved, according to the poll conducted for Century 21 Real Estate.
All of the 1,000 potential U.S. homebuyers surveyed in an online survey conducted March 2-7 by Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, said they were likely to buy a house for the first time in the next two years.
More than three-quarters of those polled said this is a good time to buy a home, and almost 70 percent said now is a better time than six months ago.
"Most prospective first-time home buyers feel that housing prices will continue to fall throughout the next six months, but will begin rising within two years," the study said. "This explains why most are not in a hurry to buy immediately, but would like to do so within the next two years."
Nine of 10 people surveyed said they also were worried about the economy, and 42 percent were "very worried," with unemployment at a 25-year high and seen rising.
However, more than three-quarters of those polled said the $8,000 federal tax credit makes them more likely to buy a house in the next six months.
Eighty-five percent said current home prices are affordable, and 25 percent said they are very affordable.
Home loan rates hover near all-time lows, around 4-3/4 percent, and are headed toward 4-1/2 percent.
Prices have tumbled more than 26 percent since peaking nearly three years ago, based on Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller indexes.
"The first-time homebuyer is a group of folks that doesn't have to get rid of a home to make a purchase," and thus play a key role in the early stages of a housing upturn, Tom Kunz, chief executive of Century 21 Real Estate, said in an interview on Wednesday.
The survey shows "we have ready, able and willing buyers sitting on the fence," many of whom had been priced out of the market during the record sales and price spike earlier this decade. "There has never been a better buyer's market than right now."
INCENTIVES VS OBSTACLES
But three-quarters of the potential buyers also said they view it is harder to get a mortgage than over the last year.
And nearly 30 percent said they are less likely to buy now because of economic and financial concerns.

Having the money for a down payment and getting an affordable mortgage are among top concerns for potential buyers, the survey found.
More than half of potential first time buyers are seriously considering a property in distress. Foreclosures are at a record high.
Nearly all renters said they would probably buy if they could got a mortgage comparable to their current monthly payments.