The Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index decreased 0.4 points in February to 84.3, reversing some of the increase seen in January. The HPSI is down 1.5 points compared with the same time last year.

The largest change among the HPSI components this month was a 9-percentage point drop in the net share of Americans who reported substantially higher household income compared to the same time last year, which was offset by an 8-percentage point jump in the job confidence component.

[caption id="attachment_9271" align="alignleft" width="396"] Doug Duncan[/caption]

“The HPSI held steady in February, as consumers’ continuing optimism about economic conditions seems to be balanced with softening attitudes toward the housing market,” said Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae. “Job confidence reached a new survey high, but consumers were less optimistic about home buying and selling conditions than they were a year ago. Notably, home price growth expectations have trended significantly downward, with the net share of consumers expecting home prices to rise falling 19 percentage points from its survey high established at the start of 2018.”

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Other highlights from the report are as follows:

• The net share of Americans who say it is a good time to buy a home remained unchanged this month at 15 percent. This component is down 7 percentage points compared with the same period in 2017.
• The net share of those who say it is a good time to sell a home decreased 5 percentage points to 30 percent. This component is down 6 percentage points from the same time last year.
• The net share of those who say home prices will go up increased 3 percentage points to 33 percent. This component is down 12 percentage points from the same time last year.
• The net share of Americans who say mortgage rates will go down over the next 12 months increased 1 percentage point to -52 percent. This component is up 5 percentage points compared with the same time period in 2017.
• The net share of Americans who say they are not concerned about losing their job increased 8 percentage points to 81 percent. This component is up 10 percentage points from the same time last year.
• The net share of those who say their household income is significantly higher than it was 12 months ago decreased 9 percentage points to 18 percent. This component is up 1 percentage point from the same time last year.