Fannie Mae: Home Purchase Sentiment Index Falls

(Image courtesy of Fannie Mae)

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%.