Consumers Temper Optimism on Housing Despite Improved Mortgage Rate Expectations

WASHINGTON, DC – The Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index® (HPSI) dipped 1.5 points in April to 88.3, offsetting some of the prior month’s 5.5 point jump. A decrease in the “Good Time to Buy” component helped drive the index lower, despite another supportive mortgage rate outlook from consumers. The net share of respondents expecting mortgage rates to go down over the next 12 months has risen a total of 12 percentage points over March and April.

“Households remain upbeat about economic activity but have more mixed attitudes toward the housing market,” said Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae. “While home selling confidence remains strong and more consumers on net expect mortgage rates to decline over the next year, respondents walked back some of their buying optimism from March. Improving perceptions of income gains and a softening home price growth outlook should help support housing demand. However, increasing expectations among consumers that mortgage rates will continue to be favorable for some time will likely gain additional support following last week’s Fed meeting – and may also be reducing their urgency to buy.”

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
April 2019 National Housing Survey Data Release (PDF)