Housing Market Remains Strong: Great Time to Sell

Fannie Mae released its August 2017 National Housing Survey on Tuesday, which showed that overall confidence in the housing market is on the rise. The Home Purchase Sentiment Index rose 1.2 percent to 88.0, just below June’s record high, according to the report.

Of the respondents, those that felt now was a good time to sell a house rose 8 percentage points, a figure that is now up 21 percent year-over-year. However, sentiment for home purchases continued to fall 5 percentage points to a total of 16 percentage points year-over-year, which is reflected in increasing home prices and lower confidence in the job market. Most consumers also didn’t report a significant change in income. Four percent of those questioned believe that mortgage rates will continue to drop as the year moves forward.

“In the early stages of the economic expansion, home selling sentiment trailed home buying sentiment by a significant margin. The reverse is true today,” said Doug Duncan, SVP and Chief Economist at Fannie Mae. “The net good time to sell share is now double the net good time to buy share, with record high percentages of consumers citing home prices as the primary reason for both perceptions. Such a sizable gap between selling and buying sentiment, if it persists, could weigh on the housing market through the rest of the year.”

Further, according to the report, American’s expect both rental prices and home prices to increase in the next year, at 4.6 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively. Only 2 percent of those surveyed believe that home prices will go down.

Survey data was collected by asking financial decision makers of 1001 households aged 18 and older between August 1, 2017, and August 22, 2017. Interviews were conducted by Penn Schoen Berland.

You can read the full survey here.