Americans’ confidence in the housing market has bounced back, according to the results of the most recent Housing Market Index from Fannie Mae. The index – which asks Americans how they feel about buying and selling a home, mortgage rates, prices, their jobs, and financial security – showed consumer sentiment improved in September and has now recovered more than half of the losses suffered in the early days of the pandemic. In particular, the components gauging perceptions of selling a house, job security, and home prices saw gains over the month before. Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae’s senior vice president and chief economist, says market dynamics will be determined by the number of homeowners who decide to list their homes in the months ahead. “Going forward, we believe the wild card to be whether enough sellers enter the market to continue to meet the strong home buying demand,” Duncan said. “The home purchase market requires the proper mix of home price growth and continued economic recovery to achieve sustainable levels of housing activity.” The net share of survey respondents who said it was a good time to sell rose 14 percent in September. (source)
