Justified or not, there has been a surge in optimism over the direction of home prices over the past few months.
Nearly 60 percent of homeowners surveyed in a recent, nationwide poll conducted for HomeGain believe prices will rise over the next two years.
Just a year ago in the spring of 2011, the consensus among homeowners was that prices were headed down, not up.
Here’s what HomeGain had to say back in June 2011:
Most real estate professionals and homeowners continue to expect home values to decrease or stay the same through the end of the year. Fifty percent of agents and brokers and forty two percent of homeowners think that home values will decrease over the next six months.
Buyers, meanwhile, are paying the price of this common delusion among homeowners that their castles are somehow special, destined to fetch a higher price even as their neighbors sell for a loss.
Roughly 58 percent of home buyers surveyed argued the listings on the market that they are seeing are overpriced, according to HomeGain’s second quarter survey.
Maybe so, but not my house! It?s special.