Fannie Mae: Only 17% Of Consumers Think It’s A Good Time to Buy A Home
Summary
The index remained relatively flat in May, decreasing by only 0.3 points but inching closer to its 10-year- and pandemic-low of 63.0 from April 2020. May’s report contained notes of consumer pessimism — specifically about mortgage rates, inflation, and job security — while perusing the housing market. “Consumers’ expectations that their personal financial situations will worsen over the next year reached an all-time high in the May survey, and they expressed greater concern about job security,” said Doug Duncan, Fannie Maes senior vice president and chief economist. The share reporting that it’s ‘easy to get a mortgage’ also decreased across almost all segments.” While confidence in the housing market is still low, the percentages of respondents that reported concerns about selling, buying, mortgage rates, and job concerns decreased, albeit in small increments. “These results," Duncan said, "suggest to us that increased mortgage rates, high home prices, and inflation will likely continue to squeeze would-be homebuyers — as well as those potential sellers with lower, locked-in mortgage rates — out of the market, supporting our forecast that home sales will slow meaningfully through the rest of this year and into next.”