More than 80 percent of the nation’s top real estate brokerage executives who responded to a poll said they were “more confident” today about the U.S. housing market than they were in January of this year. This was among the key findings from a new Imprev Thought Leader Survey released at RISMedia’s Real Estate CEO Exchange, which begins today, Sept. 5th, at the Yale Club in Manhattan.
More than two out of three respondents also said they were “confident” that the housing market would continue to improve in the next 12 months, the survey also revealed.
However, real estate leaders remain highly concerned about job creation. Eighty percent of those responding cited a “lack of job creation” as the number one factor impacting today’s real estate market. “Threats to the mortgage interest deduction” (55.4%) and the “number of homeowners upside down” (53.8%) were ranked as the next two major concerns.
Imprev, a Seattle-area technology company that provides marketing products and platforms for the real estate industry, conducted the new “Thought Leaders Survey,” which polled top real estate brokerage executives, many who are attending the two-day CEO Exchange conference. Executives attending the invitation-only conference collectively employ 75,000-plus sales associates and are responsible for more than 400,000 transactions in 2011, representing approximately $125 billion in closed business.
“We see this as a way to gain deeper insight into what today’s real estate leaders are thinking,” said Renwick Congdon, CEO of the 12-year old Bellevue, Washington-based corporation, “We use research like this to create and refine products to help them solve their most important business problems.”
Other key findings of the Imprev Thought Leader Survey include:
• U.S. economy: 89.7% cited uncertainty/instability in the overall U.S. economy as their single biggest economic concern, followed by inflation (85.7%), government financial policies (85%), job creation (85%), immigration policies (80%) and monetary policies (80%).
• Foreign economy: real estate business leaders are most concerned about the banking system (54%), followed by monetary policies (47.3%), oil prices (47.3%) and trade policies (46.8%).
• State economy: real estate executives cited increased wages (50%) as their biggest statewide economic concern, followed by job creation (38.3%).
• Local economy: the top three local economic issues for real estate leaders were access to capital/financing (39.2%), job creation (36.7%) and increase wages (33.3%).
While survey respondents were generally bullish on the U.S. housing market, they were more evenly split on their views of the U.S. economy.
When asked how confident they were that the overall U.S. economy will continue to improve in the next 12 months, 53.8% said they were “confident” or “highly confident” while 46.2% said they were “less than confident” or “not confident at all.”
An even more striking contrast is the view these real estate executives have globally versus locally: 85.2% said they were “less confident” today than they were in January of this year about world economy, while 76.7% said they were “more confident” today than they were in January of this year about their own local economy.
Survey respondents included top executives at leading franchises and independent brokerage firms that were responsible for more than a third of all U.S. residential real estate transactions last year.
About Imprev
Imprev, Inc. is a leading provider of technology to the real estate industry. For more than a decade, Imprev-powered Marketing Centers have provided leading franchises and brokerage firms with award-winning digital and printable marketing products and tools, which include iPad Apps, Videos, Craigslist display ads, automated eMarketing, social marketing (Facebook, Twitter), Virtual Tours, Flyers and eFlyers, Postcards and ePostcards, Newsletters and eNewsletters, eCards and Greeting Cards, and more. Imprev helps agents simply and cost-effectively create an impressive personal image – elegantly merged with the power of their company’s brand – to sell more homes. Established in 2000, Imprev is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. Visit Imprev at www.imprev.com.
