Consumer optimism on personal financial prospects is the highest since Fannie Mae’s National Housing Survey began
The share of Americans who believe that home prices will go up over the next 12 months increased by 7%, according to Fannie Mae’s home purchase sentiment index for January.
Fannie Mae’s index went up by two percentage points to 82.7 after a five-month decline, while four out of six index components looked promising in January.
The net percentage of those who believe it is a good time to sell a home went up by two percentage points to 15%, while those who said it is a good time to buy a house dropped by three percentage points.
“Three months after the presidential election, measures of consumer optimism regarding personal financial prospects and the economy are at or near the highest levels we’ve seen in the nearly seven-year history of the National Housing Survey,” said Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae. “However, any significant acceleration in housing activity will depend on whether consumers’ favorable expectations are realized in the form of income gains sufficient to offset constrained housing affordability. If consumers’ anticipation of further increases in home prices and mortgage rates materialize over the next 12 months, then we may see housing affordability tighten even more.”
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