Confidence in housing is reawakening, according to the Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index® (HPSI) for November. At 86.2, it inched up 0.5 percentage points, directly fueled by homebuyers.
Twenty-three percent of homebuyers are optimistic about purchasing, the Index shows; 35 percent of homeowners are optimistic about selling.
“The HPSI has moved within a tight range over the past five months, as positive sentiment regarding the overall economy continued to offset cooling housing sentiment,” says Doug Duncan, chief economist and senior vice president at Fannie Mae. “Consumers’ perceptions of growth in their household income reached a survey high , helping to absorb some of the impact of increasing mortgage rates on housing market activity.
“Meanwhile, the net share of consumers expecting home prices to increase over the next 12 months continues to moderate, dropping by 13 percentage points since this time last year,” Duncan says.
The HPSI is derived from Fannie Mae’s National Housing Survey® (NHS).
