Does housing matter to voters? A recent survey says yes ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô and finds that housing policy will rank higher for voters than even national security come 2012.
[IMAGE]""Houselogic.com"":http://marketreadyblog.com/tag/housinglogic-com/, a consumer Web site affiliated with the ""National Association of Realtors"":http://www.realtor.org/ (NAR), polled respondents across the country for the HouseLogic survey it released Friday.
About one-third of all voters want to hear proposals from presidential candidates that address housing policy.
""We need to keep housing first on the nation's public policy agenda, because housing and home ownership issues affect all Americans,"" ""Moe Veissi"":http://www.realtor.org/about_nar/fullbio_veissi, president of NAR, said in a statement. ""The results of this survey show that many Americans understand that.""
When asked ""What issue area will have the greatest
[COLUMN_BREAK]impact on your vote in 2012?"" by pollsters, respondents replied by ranking their areas of concern.
The results? Jobs and unemployment ranked first at 54 percent, followed by housing at 27 percent ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô the only two issues that placed in double digits.
Making single digits, national security fell in line at 8 percent, health care placed at 4 percent, the energy and environment ranked last at 2 percent, and a nondescript ""other"" tallied 4 percent.
""With unemployment still high, it is easy to see why so many Americans are concerned about the job market,"" Houselogic.com said in a statement. ""However, employment and the housing market are inextricably linked because economic growth and job creation cannot occur without a housing recovery.""
The Web site said that housing fills in for more than 15 percent of the GDP, calling it a ""key driver of the national economy"" and estimating that the economy creates one new job with each two home sales.
""NAR actively advocates public policies that promote responsible, sustainable homeownership, which will in turn support overall economic recovery,"" Veissi added.
""We want to ensure affordable, accessible financing; support tax policies that encourage homeownership; and help more people stay in their homes or avoid foreclosure through streamlined short sales,"" he said.
A national trade group, NAR offers Houselogic.com as a platform offering free information to Realtors.