Consumer confidence in housing hit an all-time high in February, according to Fannie Mae’s most recent Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI), part of its National Housing Survey.
The index increased by 5.6 percentage points in February to a score of 88.3.
The share of Americans who reported that now is a good time to buy rose 11 percentage points, while the share that reported that now is a good time to sell rose seven percentage points.
Consumers also demonstrated greater confidence about not losing their jobs, with the net share rising nine percentage points.
The share of respondents reporting that their household incomes had increased during the previous year also increased four percentage points.
Additionally, the share of respondents who think home prices will increase rose three percentage points.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the share of respondents who think mortgage rates will go down over the next year remained unchanged.
“The latest post-election surge in optimism puts the HPSI at its highest level since its starting point in 2011,” says Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae, in a release. “Millennials showed especially strong increases in job confidence and income gains – a necessary precursor for increased housing demand from first-time home buyers.
“Preliminary research results from our team find that millennials are accelerating the rate at which they move out of their parents’ homes and form new households,” Duncan adds. “However, continued slow supply growth implies continued strong price appreciation and affordability constraints facing millennials and first-time buyers in many markets.”