More than 20 percent of Americans say that housing and finance policies by a presidential candidate will influence their vote in November, according to a new study conducted for loanDepot.
Nearly two out of five (36 percent) also think the presidential candidates are doing a bad job of articulating their housing and finance policies, according to the survey, and 35 percent would like to hear more from the candidates on these topics.
Among those interested in hearing more, 56 percent are Democrats, 39 percent are Republicans, and 29 percent are Millennials.
“People across the nation told us they want to hear more from the presidential candidates about their housing and financial policies on issues like income, access to credit, interest rates and affordable housing,” loanDepot Chairman and CEO Anthony Hsieh said in a news release accompanying the results. “The candidate who does a good job in communicating their policies moving forward has an opportunity to influence millions of potential voters.”
Respondents said making homeownership more affordable for middle and lower income families was their top priority for the new president’s first 100 days, in terms of economic and housing issues, with 37 percent of Americans, including 32 percent who are nillennials, 64 percent who are Democrat and 32 percent who are Republican.
Keeping interest rates low (34 percent) and making more credit available to small businesses (11 percent) were the second and third priorities.
Most Americans expect their financial situations to stay the same or get worse as a result of the upcoming election. Although the majority of likely voters (66 percent) don’t expect the election will impact their personal finances, nearly one quarter (24 percent) think they’ll be worse off financially. Of those who expect be worse off, 56 percent say the candidates have done a bad job of articulating their housing and financial policies, and more Democrats (50 percent) expect to be worse off financially as a result of the elections than Republicans (44 percent).
With millennials now outnumbering baby boomers, their entrance into homeownership has been anticipated as a welcome boost to home sales, especially starter homes. But more than one third (36 percent) of millennials say their primary financial concern is not making enough money, and 46 percent are concerned about how the elections will impact their ability to access credit.
“As more millennials enter the housing market, we expect to see a higher priority placed on better borrowing options for first-time homebuyers,” Hsieh said.
Finally, the loanDepot research found perceptions on financial trends sometimes don’t match reality, its release stated.
For example, 38 percent of Americans said they think it’s harder to get home loan today than it was immediately after the financial crisis in 2008. In fact, while guidelines have tightened since 2008, applications for purchase mortgages were more likely to be denied in 2008 than in 2014, the most recent year for which Federal Reserve data is available. Denial rates for home purchase loan applications hit 18 percent in 2008, while denials in 2014 topped out at 13 percent.