RISMedia

Fannie Index: Buyers' Faith Shaken

By RISMedia Staff

Buyer confidence in December worsened, hitting a low point in the Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index® (HPSI), a gauge of housing market optimism.
 
Eleven percent of Americans believe it is "a good time to buy a home," according to Fannie Mae's National Housing Survey—down 12 percentage points from November and 13 percentage points from the prior year. The HPSI, which is derived from the National Housing Survey, was also lower, by 2.7 points.
 
"Consumer attitudes regarding whether it's a good time to buy a home worsened significantly in the last month, as well as from a year ago, to a survey low," says Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae. "Although home price growth slowed in 2018, the cumulative impact of sustained, robust increases in home prices outpacing income growth likely helped drive the share of consumers citing high home prices as a primary reason for a bad time to buy a home to a survey high."
 
Thirty-six percent of Americans, however, are optimistic about selling, the HPSI shows—growing 1 percentage point from November and 2 percentage points from the prior year.
 
"Consumers' views on the direction of the economy, a key support for housing market sentiment of late, has softened somewhat from its October high," Duncan says. "Looking ahead, consumers expect the pace of home price growth to slow over the course of 2019, which may temper growing concern over housing affordability."


Today's Top Stories
Existing-Home Sales Move Higher
State of the Market: A Mid-year Snapshot
Spotlight: The World's First Complete Real Estate System: Sellstate Realty
Justin Timberlake's NSYNC Era Estate Switches Hands
Where's Housing Headed? A Google City, Maybe
This New Twitter Change Will Boost Your Media-Savvy Efforts
RELO Direct Welcomes New SVP of Sales and Marketing
Engel & V lkers Officially Launches Richmond Brokerage with Grand Opening Event
Alameda County's Better Homes Realty Premier Affiliates with Century 21 Real Estate LLC
5 Secret Strategies to WOW the Seller and Win the Listing Every Time
Brought to you by Real Estate News © Copyright 2025, All Rights Reserved.