Fannie Mae said its Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI) dipped slightly in February, decreasing 0.5 points to 92.5 but remaining near its survey high of 93.8.
During February, three of the six HPSI components decreased month-over- month, including the percentage of Americans who said now is a good time to buy a home. Year-over-year, the HPSI was up 8.2 points in February.
“The HPSI remained relatively steady in February, reflecting another month of robust consumer sentiment consistent with strong housing market data to start the year,” Fannie Mae Senior Vice President and Chief Economist Doug Duncan said in a release. “In particular, household income sentiment picked back up as more workers saw their wages rise amid tight labor market conditions, helping bolster already strong housing demand.
“Though American consumers’ optimism about the direction of the economy is higher this month than at any point in the survey’s nearly ten-year history, the late February stock market decline, precipitated in part by evolving expectations of the potential economic impact of the coronavirus, is not fully reflected in this month’s results due to the timing of our survey data collection, which ended Feb. 22,” Duncan said. “We may see some volatility in sentiment in the months ahead as these circumstances play out.”
The percentage of Americans who said it is a good time to buy remained the same at 59 percent, while the percent who said it was a bad time to buy increased from 30 percent to 32 percent.
The percentage of Americans who said it is a good time to sell increased from 66 percent to 67 percent, while the percent who said it’s a bad time to sell increased from 21 percent to 22 percent.
Fannie Mae said the percentage of Americans who said home prices will go up in the next 12 months decreased this month from 48 percent to 47 percent; the percent who said home prices will go down increased from 7 percent to 8 percent.
The percentage of Americans who said they are not concerned about losing their job in the next 12 months decreased from 86 percent to 85 percent. The percent who said they are concerned decreased from 14 percent to 13 percent.