Activity in the housing market might be on an indefinite pause for the near future, according to a pair of national surveys.
Clever Real Estate, an online platform, released a survey of 2,000 adults that found 39% of respondents stating they were not planning to buy a home for the foreseeable future and 33% insisting they were delaying their home search until their state”™s stay-at-home edicts were lifted.
Separately, Fannie Mae announced that its monthly Home Purchase Sentiment Index reached its lowest level since November 2011. The index, which polled 1,000 adults, found 46% of respondents saying it was a bad time to buy a home, up from 36% one month earlier, while 48% said it was good time to buy a home, down from 56% in the previous month.
Fannie Mae also found 29% of respondents believed it was a good time to sell a home, down from 52% in the previous month, while the percentage who said it”™s a bad time to sell jumped from 36% to 65%.
“Individuals”™ heightened uncertainty about job security, as registered in the survey over the last two months, is likely weighing on prospective homebuyers, who may be more wary of the substantial, long-term financial commitment of a mortgage,” said Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae.
“On average, consumers expect home prices to fall 2% over the next 12 months, the lowest expected growth rate in survey history.”
Duncan added that despite consumer pessimism, “low mortgage rates remain a driver of purchase optimism. We expect that the much steeper decline in selling sentiment relative to buying sentiment will soften downward pressure on home prices.”
Was this a national survey? Or regional to the Westchester/NYC metroplex? It would make a huge difference.
National, as it says in the lede.