Fannie Mae: Home Purchase Sentiment Index Falls

(Image courtesy of Fannie Mae; Breakout image courtesy of Max Vakhtbovycn/pexels.com)

Fannie Mae released its National Housing Survey for June, including the Home Purchase Sentiment Index. The index dropped 3.7 points from May to 69.8.

Year-over-year, the HPSI is down 2.8 points.

Only 28% of respondents believe it’s currently a good time to buy a house, with 71% saying it’s a bad time. Sixty percent say it’s a good time to sell, with 39% saying it’s a bad time to sell.

Looking forward, 45% think that home prices will go up over the next year, and 22% think they’ll go down. They expect that home prices will increase 2.1% on average over the next 12 months.

In contrast, 67% of consumers expect home rental prices will go up over that time period, and they expect them to increase 5.7% on average.

Moreover, 25% think mortgage rates will go down, with 34% saying they’ll go up.

In terms of personal financial situations, 70% of respondents are not concerned about job loss over the next year. And, 16% report their household income has improved significantly over the past year, with 10% saying it’s significantly worse.

The share of consumers who say they would buy a home if they had to move fell to 64%, down 4 percentage points month-over-month. The number who said they would rent was up 4% month-over-month to 35%.

The share of consumers who think getting a mortgage would be difficult decreased 3 percentage points, to 52%.