Poll: Home owners losing faith in recovery

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- A majority of consumers now believe the U.S. housing market will not see a sustained recovery until at least 2013, a national survey said.

In a poll conducted Nov. 2-4 by Harris Interactive on behalf of realty firms Trulia.com and RealtyTrac, 24 percent of respondents indicated the housing market would recover in 2013, while 12 percent indicated it would take until 2014 for the market to improve. An additional 22 percent indicated it would take until 2015 or beyond for the housing market to get back on its feet.

"More and more, American homeowners, sellers and buyers are tamping down their expectations for a swift recovery in the housing market and bracing themselves for a long, slow climb back to a healthy real estate market," said Trulia's co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Pete Flint.

"Government incentives have come and gone and historic lows in interest rates have done little to spur recovery," he said.

In addition, more homeowners in the November survey indicated they would consider abandoning their mortgages if they owed more on a property than it was worth on the market, compared to May 2010.

In May, 41 percent of homeowners with mortgages indicated they would walk away from a mortgage that was considered under water, the term describing a home with a market value less than what was owed on the mortgage.

In November, 48 percent of homeowners said they would consider walking away from their mortgage obligations if the home was under water.

Harris Interactive interviewed 1,329 consumers for the survey. The firm does not calculate a margin of error on the results.