Poll: Americans Have Very Little Confidence in the Mortgage Market

A poll by the Harris organization gives credence to the fact that there is a lot of negativity associated with the sub-prime mortgage rate in relation to the way it is marketed and advertised. People just don't trust it to the tune of making it a very serious economic problem.

Only 34% of US adults think of the advertising and marketing of mortgage products as credible, 66% as not credible, and 22% went further and said it was not credible at all.

The poll was conducted by Harris May 8-14 2007 and just released July 17. There were 2,383 participants.

When the questions went into greater detail, and they asked not about opinions on the advertising, but on the actual financial institutions issuing the mortgages, they got this response: only 27% of U.S. adults reported favorably, with just 3% saying very favorable.

When they broke it down demographically, this was the result. More African Americans, 44%, are inclined to view the advertising as credible than Whites, 33% or Hispanics 34%. However, when it comes to the institutions, they have the most negative perception, 37%, with Whites at 26% and Hispanics at 30%

When they asked about specific products, the results were mixed. Generally, mortgages were not very well thought of, but there was a favorite, the old reliable, fixed rate mortgages came in with a 71% favorable rating. Home equity loans fared well too with 52%, favorable but only 15% saying very favorable. No down payment mortgages appealed to 27% and reverse mortgages at 25%. Adjustable rate mortgages did not do well at all being disliked by 53%, and interest only loans got a 605 unfavorable rating and balloon mortgages a 68% unfavorable.

When it comes to the figures as to how many people actually have mortgages, you can see why the real estate market is so weak. More than half, 54%, do not have any kind of mortgage, 33% have a conventional fixed rate mortgage, 16% have a home equity loan and all the other types come in at way below 10% each.