Consumers seem to be “well-attuned” to the direction that the housing market is moving, with a regular Fannie Mae survey showing Americans’ outlook on growth hitting a plateau that’s probably due to concerns about potential “tapering” of Federal Reserve asset purchases that have helped keep mortgage rates low.
“The spike in mortgage rates associated with the possibility that the Fed will begin to wind down its asset purchase program later this month has dampened the improving trend in consumer sentiment regarding housing witnessed in our survey since the start of this year,” said Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae, in a statement.
Fannie Mae found that consumers polled in August expect home prices to grow at a slightly reduced pace of 3.4 percent during the next 12 months. While the share of consumers who think it’s a good time to buy has stayed relatively flat for the past year, the percentage who say it’s a good time to sell a home has lost momentum recently, falling 4 percentage points from July to August, to 36 percent. Source: fanniemae.com.
