Consumer sentiment toward the housing market increased slightly in November, rising 0.5% to a score of 86.2 on Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI).
The increase was due mainly to a rise in the net share of Americans who reported significantly higher income, which hit a new survey high after jumping five percentage points.
The net share of Americans who said it is a good time to buy a home increased two percentage points, while the net share who said it is a good time to sell a home was flat compared with the previous month.
Meanwhile, the net share of survey respondents who expect home prices to go up fell four percentage points and the net share who expressed greater job confidence fell one percentage point.
Finally, the net share who expect mortgage rates to go down increased one percentage point.
Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae, says the index has “moved within a tight range over the past five months, as positive sentiment regarding the overall economy continued to offset cooling housing sentiment.”
“Consumers’ perceptions of growth in their household income reached a survey high this month, helping to absorb some of the impact of increasing mortgage rates on housing market activity,” Duncan says. “Meanwhile, the net share of consumers expecting home prices to increase over the next 12 months continues to moderate, dropping by 13 percentage points since this time last year.”