Home Buying: Burned Mortgage Borrowers Want to Rent

Burned mortgage borrowers will more likely rent rather than buy another home, says the most recent nationwide survey released by Fannie Mae. Fewer Americans think the market has bottomed out and the idea of homeownership as a safe investment continues to drop.

Just 68 percent of Americans think it's a good time to buy a home, which is down 2 percent since June. The number of Americans who think it's a bad time to buy a home is up 3 percent, to 29 percent, since the June survey. Not surprisingly with these numbers, the overwhelming majority of Americans -- 85 percent -- think it's a bad time to try to sell a home.