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52 | M REPORT O R I G I NAT I O N S E R V I C I N G DATA G O V E R N M E N T S E C O N DA R Y M A R K E T THE LATEST DATA Younger Homeowners More Likely to Make Green Home Improvements According to the latest Fannie Mae National Housing Survey, roughly half of homeowners aged 18-34 would be interested in making energy-efficiency improvements such as installing solar panels. L ate last year, Fannie Mae leveraged their National Housing Survey to ask homeowners about their interest in "green" home improvements, as well as the financial costs associated with making home repairs. With environmental concerns and energy efficiency increasingly top of mind for many, Kevin Tillmann, Market Research Se- nior Associate, National Hous- ing Survey, wanted to better understand consumers' interest in installing solar panels or making other energy-efficiency improvements, particularly if the costs of doing so were included in their mortgage balance. The survey identified a sig- nificantly higher level of interest among younger homeowners in green home improvements, with their interest particularly pro- nounced for projects such as solar panel installation and energy-effi- ciency improvements. It was also found that 28% of homeowners are "somewhat" or "very" con- cerned about unexpected home repair costs. Notably, one-third of homeowners indicated that the costs required to make home re- pairs were higher than expected, and 28% expressed concern that unexpected repair costs could make it difficult to pay their mortgage or other monthly bills. Examining Homeowner Interest in "Green" Home Improvements Overall, approximately half of homeowners aged 18-34 would be interested in making energy- efficiency improvements (51%) or installing solar panels (48%), if the costs for these upgrades could be included in their mortgage. Both of these figures were far higher than the average level of inter- est across the general population of homeowners (34% and 32%, respectively). Additionally, 26% of homeown- ers aged 18-34 expressed inter- est in an overall home energy assessment costing a few hundred dollars. This was, again, much higher than the interest among all homeowners (17%). Exploring the Impact and Types of Home Repair and Improvement Costs As discussed in a recent Fannie Mae Perspectives blog, the com- bined cost of home repairs and improvements can make up nearly 20% of the total cost of home- ownership. It's also clear from these survey results that this is an unexpected burden for a meaning- ful portion of homeowners. Large, unexpected home repair costs can adversely affect housing stability, as some homeowners, especially those of more mod- est means, may struggle to keep up with both their mortgage payments and the often-costly repairs necessary to maintain their homes. Our survey results revealed that 38% of lower-income homeowners (i.e., those earn- ing less than 80% of area median income (AMI)) believe their home repair costs were higher than expected, compared to 30% of higher-income consumers (i.e., those earning more than 120% AMI). The results also plainly showed that higher unexpected repair costs are likely to have a disproportionate effect on lower-income consumers: While