RealtorMag
Homeowners who have decided to stay put in their current properties may soon be ready for a move, helping to relieve stubbornly tight housing inventory. The evidence is in Fannie Mae’s latest Home Purchase Sentiment Index, in which the number of consumers who say now is a good time to sell a home neared an all-time high. The index—which is a measure of about 1,000 consumers’ attitudes toward housing—rose 1.2 points in August to a reading of 88, reflecting a year-over-year jump of 21 percentage points in the number of consumers who looked favorably on selling. The August reading is just shy of the index’s record high of 88.3, set in July.
Meanwhile, the number of consumers who say now is a good time to buy dropped 5 percentage points in August to a new survey low for the second consecutive month. The number of those who look favorably on buying is down 16 percentage points year over year, Fannie Mae reports.
