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With home prices and mortgage rates showing few signs of easing, Americans were increasingly convinced in May that it’s a better time to be selling a home than buying one, according to a monthly survey by mortgage giant Fannie Mae.
Last month’s Fannie Mae’s National Housing Survey shows that the percentage of Americans who thought it was a good time to sell climbed to 65 percent, up from 51 percent in December and the highest level since July.
Only 19 percent thought May was a good time to buy, down from 23 percent in April and not far above the all-time low of 16 percent seen last October and November.
Mark Palim
High home prices and mortgage rates “remain top of mind for consumers, most of whom continue to tell us that it’s a bad time to buy a home but a good time to sell one,” said Fannie Mae Deputy Chief Economist Mark Palim in a statement. “Consumers also indicated that they don’t expect these affordability constraints to improve in the near future, with significant majorities thinking that both home prices and mortgage rates will either increase or remain the same over the next year.”
Six questions from the National Housing Survey are used to calculate Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI): Whether it’s a good or bad time to buy or to sell a house, what direction home prices and mortgage interest rates will move in the next 12 months, fears of becoming unemployed and household income trends.
Only two of the six components of the HPSI improved from April to May — expectations that home prices will increase over the next year and whether it’s a good time to sell.
The HPSI — which was often above 90 in the months leading up to the pandemic — fell 1.2 points from April to May to 65.6. That’s well above last