WASHINGTON, Dec. 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Fannie Mae
Home Purchase Sentiment Index® (HPSI) increased slightly in November, rising 0.5 points to 86.2.
The increase can be attributed primarily to an increase in the net share of Americans who reported significantly higher income,
which hit a new survey high after jumping 5 percentage points. The net share of Americans who said it is a good time to buy a
home rose 2 percentage points, while the net share who said it is a good time to sell a home remained unchanged. Meanwhile, the
net share of survey respondents who expect home prices to go up fell 4 percentage points, and the net share who expressed greater
job confidence fell 1 percentage point. Finally, the net share who expect mortgage rates to go down increased 1 percentage
point.
"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," said Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief
economist at Fannie Mae. "Consumers' perceptions of growth in their household income reached a survey high this month, 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."
HOME PURCHASE SENTIMENT INDEX – COMPONENT HIGHLIGHTS
Fannie Mae's 2018 Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI) increased in November by 0.5 points to 86.2. The HPSI is down
1.6 points compared with the same time last year.
- The net share of Americans who say it is a good time to buy a home rose 2 percentage points from last month to 23%.
- The net share of those who say it is a good time to sell a home remained unchanged at 35%.
- The net share of those who say home prices will go up fell 4 percentage points to 33%, declining for the second consecutive
month.
- The net share of Americans who say mortgage rates will go down over the next 12 months rose 1 percentage point to
-56%.
- The net share of Americans who say they are not concerned about losing their job fell 1 percentage point to 77%.
- The net share of those who say their household income is significantly higher than it was 12 months ago rose 5 percentage
points to a survey high of 24%.
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 Americans 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 stabilize the housing market in the near-term, and provide support in the
future. The November 2018 National Housing Survey was conducted between November 1, 2018 and November 26, 2018. 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 November 2018 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.
To receive e-mail updates with other housing market research from Fannie Mae's Economic & Strategic Research Group, please
click here.
Fannie Mae helps make the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage and affordable rental housing possible for millions of Americans. We
partner with lenders to create housing opportunities for families across the country. We are driving positive changes in housing
finance to make the home buying process easier, while reducing costs and risk. To learn more, visit fanniemae.com and follow us on twitter.com/fanniemae.
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SOURCE Fannie Mae