Last week we discussed home builder’s thoughts on the market. This week Orion takes a look at what consumers are thinking around the nation. Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI) distills information about consumers’ home purchase sentiment from Fannie Mae’s National Housing Survey® (NHS) into statistics. The HPSI reflects consumers’ current views and forward-looking expectations of housing market conditions and complements existing data sources to inform housing-related analysis and decision making. Orion believes that brokers should at least be aware of the information as it gives the industry a good gauge of our biz!

The percentage of Americans who say it is a good time to buy decreased this month from 61% to 59%, while the percentage who say it is a bad time to buy increased from 29% to 32%. As a result, the net share of Americans who say it is a good time to buy decreased 5 percentage points. This tends to echo what Orion’s AEs are hearing.

But the percentage of Americans who say it is a good time to sell decreased from 66% to 65%, while the percentage who say it’s a bad time to sell decreased from 26% to 22%. As a result, the net share of those who say it is a good time to sell increased 3 percentage points.

But check this out: The percentage of Americans who say home prices will go up in the next 12 months increased this month from 44% to 50%, while the percentage who said home prices will go down stayed the same at 10%. The share who think home prices will stay the same decreased from 40% to 35%. As a result, the net share of Americans who say home prices will go up increased 6 percentage points.

Orion’s brokers, and Orion, is very interested in your client’s incomes, as those help drive our underwriting decision. Fannie Mae’s survey showed that the percentage of Americans who say their household income is significantly higher than it was 12 months ago remained the same at 28%, while the percentage who say their household income is significantly lower increased slightly from 10% to 11%. The percentage who say their household income is about the same remained flat at 60%. As a result, the net share of those who say their household income is significantly higher than it was 12 months ago decreased 1 percentage point.