Consumer optimism toward the housing market gained some momentum last month following a dip in December, according to results from Fannie Mae’s January 2015 National Housing Survey. After dropping in December, the share who said it is a good time to buy a home increased 3 percentage points to 67 percent, and the share saying they would buy rather than rent if they were to move jumped 5 percentage points to 66 percent, marking the first increase since September 2014.
Highlights from the survey include:
- The average 12-month home price change expectation rose to 2.5 percent.
- The share of respondents who say home prices will go up in the next 12 months rose to 49 percent. The share who say home prices will go down remained constant at 8 percent.
- The share of respondents who say mortgage rates will go up in the next 12 months decreased by 3 percentage points to 45 percent.
The share of respondents who think it would be easy to get a home mortgage today fell to 50 percent, while the share saying it would be difficult to get a mortgage rose 3 percentage points to 47 percent.
