The latest survey data shows that consumers’ attitudes towards home buying dropped “significantly” in May, and the proportion of consumers who think now is a “bad” time to buy a home increased month by month from 79% to 86%. Fannie Mae.
Fannie Mae’s Home Buying Confidence Index (HPSI) fell 2.5 points in May to 69.4, marking a record low in measuring consumer confidence in buying a home. Last month, only 14% of consumers said it was a “good time” to buy a home, down from 20% last month, while the proportion of consumers who said it was a good time to sell a home also dropped from 67% to 64%, the data shows. %.
“At the same time, consumers still believe affordability will remain tight for the foreseeable future, as respondents believe home prices and mortgage rates will rise next year,” the accompanying statement read. “Positive factors in the survey include: An increasing number of respondents said that their household income is significantly higher than a year ago, now accounting for 20%. The overall index increased by 3.8 points year-on-year.
“Consumer confidence in housing continues to grow as more consumers try to find positives in the current housing market,” said Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae. Declining from the recent plateau.
“While many respondents expressed optimism that mortgage rates would fall at the start of the year, this simply has not happened and current sentiment reflects pent-up frustration over an overall lack of affordability.”
Duncan added that “a good time to buy” is an important indicator of this reality. But views on home sales conditions fell only slightly, suggesting the impact of the “lock-in” effect on mortgage rates would not extend to “an increase in listings that could lead to an increase in the number of listings in the near future for a variety of non-financial reasons,” he said. explained.
He said the GSE expects inventories for sale to improve slightly, which could lead to a small increase in sales activity at the end of the year.
Other data points include the share of consumers expecting home prices to rise over the next 12 months remaining unchanged (42%), while the share expecting mortgage rates to rise fell slightly, from 33% to 31%. 42% of respondents expect the same for interest rates, compared with 40% a month ago.
Three-quarters of respondents said they were not worried about losing their job in the next 12 months, a slight decrease from last month. However, the proportion of respondents worried about potential unemployment increased slightly, reaching 24%.
Friday, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics It was announced that the economy added 272,000 new jobs in May, which was higher than the market consensus of 180,000, increasing people’s expectations for economic growth. United States Federal Reserve A cut in the benchmark interest rate is unlikely in the short term.
