During July, the share of Americans who said now is a good time to buy a house decreased to a survey low, according to Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI).
The HPSI dropped 1.5 percentage points in July to 86.8, driven by decreases in three of the six components it measures.
“It’s clear that high home prices are a growing challenge helping to send buying sentiment to a record low,” Fannie Mae Senior Vice President and Chief Economist Doug Duncan said in a release.
“However, we find the notable decline in selling sentiment surprising. If it persists, this month’s decrease in optimism regarding the direction of the economy, which appears to coincide with rising uncertainty regarding the outlook for pro-growth legislation this year, could weigh on overall housing sentiment in the second half of the year,” Duncan added.
The HPSI found that the share of survey respondents (23 percent) who in July said now is a good time to buy a home fell 7 percentage points, while those who said now was a good time to sell (28 percent) dropped 11 percentage points. The share of Americans who said they were not concerned about losing their job jumped 9 percentage points.
Additionally, the share of Americans who expect home prices to continue to rise increased by one percentage point in July. Nearly half of the respondents who said now was a bad time to buy a home cited rising prices as their top concern.