By Jann Swanson | Mortgage News Daily
Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index® (HPSI) suffered its third decline in as many months in October. The Index, based on responses to six key questions in the company’s monthly National Housing Survey, dipped 1.1 points from September to 81.7. Decreases were posted for four of the six components. Overall, the HPSI is down 1.5 points since this time last year.
The share of consumers reporting significantly higher income over the past year experienced the largest drop, decreasing eight percentage points on net. The share of consumers who reported having a higher income fell from 25 percent in September to 20 percent while those reporting lower income climbed 3 points to 16 percent. The net figure for this component peaked at 18 percent in May and is now at 4 percent.
