Housing Sentiment at Record High as Consumers’ Confidence in Home-Selling Environment Strengthens

The Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index® (HPSI) increased 2.1 percentage points in June to 88.3, matching the all-time high from February of this year. The rise can be attributed to increases in four of the six HPSI components. The net share who reported that now is a good time to sell a home reached a new record high, increasing an additional 7 percentage points, outpacing the net 3 percentage point increase of Americans who reported that now is a good time to buy a home. As a result, the net share who say it’s a good time to sell compared to those saying it’s a good time to buy widened once again this month, which continues to indicate a potential seller’s market. Americans also expressed greater belief that mortgage rates will go down over the next 12 months, with that component increasing 3 percentage points. Finally, the net share of consumers who think home prices will go up increased by 6 percentage points this month.

“The June HPSI reading matches the previous record set in February and reflects the trend toward a sellers’ market that respondents indicated last month,” said Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae.  “Consumers are also growing more optimistic about their ability to get a mortgage, and lenders expect credit standards to ease further going forward, as shown in our Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey. While consumer optimism on this metric is as high as we’ve seen in the survey’s seven-year history, it’s worth noting that this record is relative to the fairly tight standards in place post-crisis when we started collecting National Housing Survey data. Nevertheless, in the face of very tight housing supply, easing credit standards may fail to have the desired effect and could have the unintended consequence of fueling further house price increases.”

On this webpage you will find a news release with highlights from the HPSI and NHS results, the latest Data Release highlighting the consumer attitudinal indicators, month-over-month key indicator data, an overview and white paper about the HPSI, technical notes providing in-depth information about the NHS methodology, the questionnaire used for the survey, and a comparative assessment of Fannie Mae’s National Housing Survey and other consumer surveys.

Downloads and Related Links
News Release
June 2017 National Housing Survey Data Release (PDF)