Fannie Mae’s Economic & Strategic Research (ESR) Group asked consumers what they considered important when defining the “good life,” in a survey measuring how the desire to own a home relates to other life aspirations.

It then compared responses collected at the end of 2022 with those gathered at the end of 2020 to see how the public’s attitude has changed when asked about what factors they use to define the “life they’d like to have.”

Financial security and being in good health both remained at the top of the list, with over 98 percent of respondents stating it was very to somewhat important. This was followed by living in a location they liked; having a good work life balance; and having good friends. Owning a home stayed in sixth place, maintaining 87 percent both years the survey was taken.

The remaining factors in order of their importance were having a happy marriage or romantic relationship; having an interesting job; having a strong religious faith or spirituality; having children; and owning really nice things such as cars, electronics, jewelry, and clothing.

The ESR Group’s findings also showed 73 percent of respondents believed buying a home had a lot of potential. While 70 percent believed buying a home is a safe investment, this was a decrease from 75 percent in 2020.

The biggest shift in the 2022 results involved the responses when asked about the benefits of homeownership over renting. Associating homeownership with having less stress, which 66 percent of respondents stated they did, was up 10 percentage points from 2020. The survey stated one reason for this is because many renters have experienced significant rent price increases and, despite a decline in housing affordability, see a fixed mortgage payment as less stressful.

Another notable difference in the results related to race. In 2022, 88 percent of Black consumers viewed “living in a place where you and your family feel safe” as a benefit of homeownership. According to the ESR Group, this was a significant improvement over the responses in 2020, when 72 percent of Black consumers gave the same responses.

“With many, including us, predicting a recession, the resiliency of consumers’ perceptions of homeownership relative to other investment options is noteworthy, especially during the previous three-year period of significant economic uncertainty,” the ESR Group stated. “The survey data shows that consumers see homeownership as helping to deliver on a sense of financial security, which was also tied as the primary factor associated with the ‘good life.’

“In fact, homeownership has strongly persisted as a perceived leading source of financial benefits dating all the way back to 2010, when we began the National Housing Survey.”

The ESR Group concluded by stating it expected consumers’ longstanding and favorable attitude toward homeownership as an investment to persist, even in the face of a recession.