WASHINGTON—The Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI) was unchanged in April at 71.9 and is showing signs of once again plateauing as consumers continue to adjust to the higher interest rate and home price environment, according to the analysis released by Fannie Mae.
For April, 67% of consumers indicated it’s a good time to sell a home, while just 20% said it’s a good time to buy a home, Fannie Mae said.
Fannie Mae reported those two indicators are up 10 percentage points and three percentage points, respectively, since the end of 2023, despite mortgage rates having moved steadily upward. Additionally, the share of respondents who expect mortgage rates to go down over the next 12 months fell to 26%.
The full index is up 5.1 points year over year.
‘Wait & See’
“The HPSI, unchanged this month, may have hit another plateau as consumers maintain their ‘wait and see’ approach to the housing market,” Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae senior vice president and chief economist, said in a statement. “Overall, housing sentiment increased from November through February, driven largely by consumer belief that mortgage rates would move lower. However, recent data showing stickier-than-expected inflation, rising mortgage rates, and continued home price appreciation appear to have given consumers pause regarding the market’s direction.
‘Bodes Well’
“While only 20% of consumers think it’s a good time to buy a home, 67% think it’s a good time to sell one, a share that’s moved steadily upward since the start of the year,” continued Duncan. “We think consumers’ generally improved sense of home-selling conditions bodes well for listings and housing activity, particularly for the segment of the population who may need to move for lifestyle reasons and have already begun adjusting their financial expectations to the current mortgage rate and price environment. However, for potential homebuyers in less of a rush to transact, ongoing affordability challenges may continue to keep many of them on the sidelines – one reason why we expect home sales to tick up only gradually over the course of the year.”
Daily News Headlines. To Your Inbox. Every Day. And It’s Free
The biggest, best and freshest news reporting in credit unions remains free, and now has an added bonus---free shipping to your email address! That’s right. Each morning CUToday.info delivers its daily Fresh Today news update offering the latest headlines and breaking news right to your email, with the easy-to-read headlines format allowing you to click on the stories that interest you most in order to learn more. So, stop paying those bank-fee-like subscription prices from other so-called “news” publications!
If you haven’t yet signed up for the new email solution on which CUToday.info has partnered with ResponseGenius, you can do so here. Signing up requires less than one minute of your time—and it’s free!
Please note that after signing up you may need to go to your Spam/Junk folder and mark the morning headlines email as safe. CUToday.info does not provide its list of readers and emails to outside parties, and we will not be contacting you to sell you an extended warranty or sending you any links so you may cash in on an inheritance.
And did we mention it’s free?