According to a recent housing market survey by Zillow, it will have taken more than ten years for U.S. home values to gain back all of the losses sustained during the housing meltdown. Experts are reporting that home values should be up 4.2% YoY by the end of 2015. Value appreciation will level off beginning in 2016 through 2019. This would result in average home prices rising above the April 2007 peak of $196,400 in October 2017, and exceed $200,000 in April 2018. By the end of 2015, many economists predict that annual gains in rents will outpace gains in home values.

Survey participants were asked their opinions of the current state of credit access:

47% of survey respondents said credit is too restrictive

46% said credit access where it should be

7% said they feel that mortgage credit access is too lax

Their predictions on the future of credit standards:

60% of respondents said they expect to see looser credit standards over the next year.

4% said they think credit will ease too much, becoming too laidback.

When asked if growth in renter households will continue to increase, and growth in owner households will continue to flatten:

44% of respondents stated that the current trend will continue with renter-occupancy increasing at a faster rate than owner-occupancy.

42% of respondents said they thought owner-occupancy would rebound and renter occupancy would slow

11% believed both owner and renter occupancy would increase at significant rates.