Housing Confidence Hits an All Time High

Fannie Mae recently announced that the Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI)* rose 3.4 points in April, to 91.7, marking a new all-time survey high. The increase is attributed to rises in five out of six HPSI markers that are surveyed.

Of note are the following components of the survey:

• The only component that decreased was the net share of Americans who believe it is a good time to buy a home, by 3 percentage points to 29%.
• The net share of those who believe it is a good time to sell rose 6 percentage points to 45%, reaching a new survey high.
• The net share of Americans who say home prices will go up increased 7 percentage points to 49% in April.
• The net share of those who say mortgage rates will go down over the next 12 months increased 4 percentage points to -48%.
• The net share of Americans who say they are not concerned about losing their job increased 5 percentage points to 76% in April.
• The net share of those who say their household income is significantly higher than it was 12 months ago rose 1 percentage point to 18%.

“The latest HPSI reading edged up to a new survey high, showing that consumer attitudes remain resilient going into the spring/summer home buying season,” said Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae. “High home prices and good economic conditions helped push the share of Americans who think it’s a good time to sell to a fresh record high. However, the upward trend in the good-time-to-sell share seen since last spring has done little to release more for-sale inventory. The tightest supply in decades, combined with rising mortgage rates from historically low levels, will likely remain a hurdle for mobility and a persistent headwind for home sales.”

*The HPSI reflects consumers’ current views and forward-looking expectations of housing market conditions and complements existing data sources to inform housing-related analysis and decision making. The HPSI is constructed from answers to six NHS questions that solicit consumers’ evaluations of housing market conditions and address topics that are related to their home purchase decisions. The questions ask consumers whether they think that it is a good or bad time to buy or to sell a house, what direction they expect home prices and mortgage interest rates to move, how concerned they are about losing their jobs, and whether their incomes are higher than they were a year earlier.