Consumers Increasingly Adamant That It’s a Good Time to Sell, Bad Time to Buy a Home

The Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index® (HPSI) was largely unchanged in June, decreasing by 0.3 points to 79.7, despite even greater volatility among its underlying components. The “Good Time to Buy” and “Good Time to Sell” components once again produced the most notable results. On the buy-side, 64 percent of respondents said it’s a bad time to buy a home, up from 56 percent last month; while on the sell-side, 77 percent of respondents said it’s a good time to sell, up from 67 percent last month. The components more closely associated with household finances were largely flat month over month but remain elevated compared to this time last year, particularly the component regarding job security. Year over year, the overall index is up 3.2 points.

“The HPSI remained flat this month, although its underlying buy and sell components continued to diverge, setting record positive and negative readings, respectively,” said Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. “Consumers also continued to cite high home prices as the predominant reason for their ongoing and significant divergence in sentiment toward homebuying and home-selling conditions. While all surveyed segments have expressed greater negativity toward homebuying over the last few months, renters who say they are planning to buy a home in the next few years have demonstrated an even steeper decline in homebuying sentiment than homeowners. It’s likely that affordability concerns are more greatly affecting those who aspire to be first-time homeowners than other consumer segments who have already established homeownership.”

Duncan continued: “Despite the pessimism in homebuying conditions, we expect demand for housing to persist at an elevated level through the rest of the year. Mortgage rates remain not too far from their historical lows, and consumers are expressing even greater confidence about their household income and job situation compared to this time last year, when the pandemic had shut down wide swaths of the economy.”

Downloads and Related Links
June 2021 News Release
June 2021 National Housing Survey Data Release  

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