Fannie Mae’s recent survey has revealed mixed sentiments among consumers regarding home buying and selling and their financial situation. The Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI), which measures attitudes towards buying and selling homes, increased by 3.3 points in March, bringing it slightly higher than its all-time low in November 2022. However, it is still down 11.9 points compared to March of the previous year.

In February, four out of the six components of the HPSI showed improvement. However, the net positive responses for the two components related to home buying and selling remain lower compared to the previous year. According to the survey, only 20 percent of respondents think that it is a good time to buy a home, with 79 percent disagreeing. The net positive score of 60 percent was down by 11 points since April 2022 and 1 point lower than the previous month. It is noteworthy that consumer sentiment for home buying has been negative since spring 2021.

In March, positive opinions about home selling rose by 8 points, resulting in a net positive of 18 percent. However, this figure is 35 points lower than a year earlier. According to Mark Palim, Fannie Mae Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist, about one-third of consumers expect prices to rise, while a slightly smaller number expect a decline, resulting in a net positive of 0 percent. Though it is an increase of 4 points, 28 percent fewer people anticipate higher prices than they did a year ago.

The only component that showed increased positivity both monthly and annually was the expectation for lower interest rates. Although there was still a net negative score of 39 percent (with only 12 percent expecting rates to go down), this was still 1 point higher than February and 28 points higher than the previous year.

In the Fannie Mae survey, the percentage of respondents who were not worried about losing their jobs in the next 12 months rose from 73 to 78 percent. On a monthly basis, the net share of respondents who thought their household income was significantly higher than 12 months ago declined by 2 percentage points, while it was down by 7 points on an annual basis, settling at 9 percent.