Consumers are excited about housing. At least that’s what Fannie Mae finds in its latest May 2015 National Housing Survey.
The survey posts that the share of people who believe now is a good time to sell a home increased three percentage points to 49%. This is a new survey high and six percentage points greater than the same time last year.
“Things are looking up for housing,” said Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae. “Those saying it is a good time to sell a house hit a survey high of 49 percent. Also, the percentage of consumers telling us their household income is significantly higher than 12 months ago grew six percentage points to 28 percent over the past two months.”
As a result of the two indicators, good time to sell and income growth, Duncan said, “Fannie’s forecast of moderate improvement in the housing market in 2015 is on course and mirrors the near-term performance of other leading market data, including mortgage applications and pending home sales.”
However, this is report from Fannie stands in opposition to a report from The Wall Street Journal Monday morning that gave a more dismal forecast to housing. The report stated that the future ahead doesn’t look good for housing, with a lot more people renting and fewer affordable homes becoming available.
Meanwhile, Fannie survey found that the share who say they would buy if they were going to move rose 3 percentage points to 66%, while the share who would rent fell to 27%.
The survey instead remained positive since the share of survey respondents reporting a significant increase in their household income climbed 4 percentage points to a near all-time high, which bolsters the outlook for housing market growth.
