Fannie Mae Finds Most Consumers Support Building New Housing; Disagree on Details

(Illustration courtesy of Fannie Mae)

Far more consumers say affordable housing is harder to find than a few years ago, but more than half believe house prices, rent and local taxes will increase if more homes are built in their neighborhood, a recent Fannie Mae survey found.

“We found [this result] particularly interesting because it opposes the traditional economic argument that increasing supply lowers prices,” Kevin Tillmann, market research lead associate, and Eric Brescia, economist with the new Fannie Mae Economic & Strategic Research Group, said in a new blog post.

“When asked to consider the possible solution of building more housing in their neighborhood to ease affordability challenges, there is a clear difference in sentiment between homeowners and renters,” the report said. More than eight in 10 consumers said they are in favor of building some type of new housing in their neighborhood, but when asked specifically about building more “affordable” housing, renters were significantly more likely to be in favor than homeowners (73% vs. 44%).

“Furthermore, while homeowners and renters are both likely to support building additional single-family detached homes in their neighborhood, renters are much more likely to support building other housing types, such as townhomes, apartments or condos,” Fannie Mae said.

When consumers were asked if they would support changes to local zoning codes or regulations to allow more housing development, nearly two-thirds of renters (63%) said they would be in favor, while just 37% of homeowners said the same. “[This is] another clear point of contention between the two groups that often plays out at local government meetings,” the report said.