Is This A Good Time To Buy Or Sell A Home? Pessimism Is Rising In The Housing Market

Fewer Americans believe now is the best time to buy or sell a home, according to the latest Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI) from the Federal National Mortgage Association FNMA.

What Happened: In the January HPSI data survey of approximately 1,000 adults, a record-low 25% of respondents stated this is a good time for a home purchase, compared to 69% of respondents who believed it was a good time to sell a residential property. However, the December HPSI found 76% of respondents were optimistic about selling opportunities while 26% felt positive about homebuying.

“Consumer sentiment toward housing softened further in January — the HPSI fell 2.4 points to 71.8 — as affordability and supply constraints continue to limit home purchase opportunities, particularly among younger households,” said Doug Duncan, Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) senior vice president and chief economist. “Younger consumers — more so than other groups — expect home prices to rise even further, and they also reported a greater sense of macroeconomic pessimism.

“Additionally,” Duncan continued, “while the younger respondents are typically the most optimistic about their future finances, this month their sense of optimism around their personal financial situation declined. All of this points back to the current lack of affordable housing stock, as younger generations appear to be feeling it particularly acutely and, absent an uptick in supply, may have their homeownership aspirations delayed. On the whole, the latest HPSI results are consistent with our forecast of slowing housing activity in the coming year.”

Related Link: Home Values Increase Faster In Family-Friendly Neighborhoods: Report

What Else Happened: Among the major metro markets, Phoenix saw the greatest level of inbound migration last year, according to new data from Redfin Corp RDFN.

Phoenix metro gained roughly 85,000 residents from other metro areas in 2021, far ahead of second- and third-ranked Dallas with a 56,000-resident gain and Orlando with 53,000.

Redfin noted that nine of the 10 most popular migration destinations of 2021 were located in Sun Belt states and half had a median home-sale price under the national median of roughly $383,000 for December.

However, home price growth was considerably higher than the 15% year-over-year national growth rate in all 10 of the most popular destinations in December; in Phoenix, the typical home sold for $435,000 during December, which was 28% more than one year earlier.

Photo: Mohamed Hassan / Pixabay