Home Purchase Sentiment Dips Slightly, May Have Plateaued For Now

WASHINGTON, DC – The Fannie Mae (FNMA/OTCQB) Home Purchase Sentiment Index® (HPSI) fell 1.7 points in November to 80.0, the first decline after three consecutive months of increases. Three of the six HPSI components decreased month over month, with consumers reporting a more pessimistic view of homebuying conditions, including mortgage rate expectations, but a more optimistic view of home-selling conditions and home prices. Moreover, consumers also reported mixed results regarding job loss concerns and household income changes. Year over year, the HPSI is down 11.5 points.

"The HPSI appears to have peaked for now as consumers continue to consider how COVID-19 impacts their ability to buy or sell a home," said Doug Duncan, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. "This follows the HPSI's recovery of slightly more than half of the loss experienced during the first few months of the pandemic."

"Drilling down a bit, home purchase confidence has recovered more for homeowners than for renters, in part because homeowners have been less likely than renters to have had their jobs and finances impacted by the pandemic," Duncan continued. "Interestingly, the gap between the HPSI broken out by the homeowner and renter subgroups hit a survey high in August but, despite narrowing slightly, remains elevated and well above the survey average."

Home Purchase Sentiment Index – Component Highlights
Fannie Mae's Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI) fell in November by 1.7 points to 80.0. The HPSI is down 11.5 points compared to the same time last year. Read the full research report for additional information.

• Good/Bad Time to Buy: The percentage of respondents who say it is a good time to buy a home decreased from 60% to 57%, while the percentage who say it is a bad time to buy remained the same at 35%. As a result, the net share of Americans who say it is a good time to buy decreased 3 percentage points month over month.
• Good/Bad Time to Sell: The percentage of respondents who say it is a good time to sell a home remained the same at 59%, while the percentage who say it’s a bad time to sell decreased from 35% to 33%. As a result, the net share of those who say it is a good time to sell increased 2 percentage points month over month.
• Home Price Expectations: The percentage of respondents who say home prices will go up in the next 12 months increased this month from 40% to 41%, while the percentage who say home prices will go down decreased from 20% to 13%. The share who think home prices will stay the same increased from 31% to 35%. As a result, the net share of Americans who say home prices will go up increased 8 percentage points month over month.
• Mortgage Rate Expectations: The percentage of respondents who say mortgage rates will go down in the next 12 months decreased from 11% to 8%, while the percentage who expect mortgage rates to go up increased from 32% to 43%. The share who think mortgage rates will stay the same decreased from 49% to 40%. As a result, the net share of Americans who say mortgage rates will go down over the next 12 months decreased 14 percentage points month over month.
• Job Concerns: The percentage of respondents who say they are not concerned about losing their job in the next 12 months decreased from 79% to 76%, while the percentage who say they are concerned increased from 21% to 24%. As a result, the net share of Americans who say they are not concerned about losing their job decreased 6 percentage points month over month.
• Household Income: The percentage of respondents who say their household income is significantly higher than it was 12 months ago increased from 23% to 24%, while the percentage who say their household income is significantly lower decreased from 20% to 18%. The percentage who say their household income is about the same increased from 55% to 57%. As a result, the net share of those who say their household income is significantly higher than it was 12 months ago increased 3 percentage points month over month.

About Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index
The Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI) distills information about consumers’ home purchase sentiment from Fannie Mae’s National Housing Survey® (NHS) into a single number. The HPSI reflects consumers’ current views and forward-looking expectations of housing market conditions and complements existing data sources to inform housing-related analysis and decision making. The HPSI is constructed from answers to six NHS questions that solicit consumers’ evaluations of housing market conditions and address topics that are related to their home purchase decisions. The questions ask consumers whether they think that it is a good or bad time to buy or to sell a house, what direction they expect home prices and mortgage interest rates to move, how concerned they are about losing their jobs, and whether their incomes are higher than they were a year earlier.

About Fannie Mae’s National Housing Survey
The most detailed consumer attitudinal survey of its kind, Fannie Mae’s National Housing Survey (NHS) polled approximately 1,000 respondents via live telephone interview to assess their attitudes toward owning and renting a home, home and rental price changes, homeownership distress, the economy, household finances, and overall consumer confidence. Homeowners and renters are asked more than 100 questions used to track attitudinal shifts, six of which are used to construct the HPSI (findings are compared with the same survey conducted monthly beginning June 2010). As cell phones have become common and many households no longer have landline phones, the NHS contacts 70 percent of respondents via their cell phones (as of January 2018). For more information, please see the Technical Notes. Fannie Mae conducts this survey and shares monthly and quarterly results so that we may help industry partners and market participants target our collective efforts to support the housing market. The October 2020 National Housing Survey was conducted between October 1, 2020 and October 25, 2020. Most of the data collection occurred during the first two weeks of this period. Interviews were conducted by PSB, in coordination with Fannie Mae.

Detailed HPSI & NHS Findings
For detailed findings from the October 2020 Home Purchase Sentiment Index and National Housing Survey, as well as a brief HPSI overview and detailed white paper, technical notes on the NHS methodology, and questions asked of respondents associated with each monthly indicator, please visit the Surveys page on fanniemae.com. Also available on the site are in-depth special topic studies, which provide a detailed assessment of combined data results from three monthly studies of NHS results.

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