Americans Feeling Better About Housing Market

Home buyers and sellers are taking a more optimistic view of the housing market. The Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index increased 9 points in June to 76.5, driven by more optimistic views of homebuying and selling conditions, as well as positive views about the potential for home price appreciation. For the year, the index remains down 15 points amid the coronavirus pandemic. “A second month of improvement in June allowed the HPSI to regain some of the sharp losses in optimism observed in March and April,” said Doug Duncan, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist at Fannie Mae. “The share of renters who say it’s a good time to buy a home is now at its highest level in…

Forecast Calls For Uneven Housing Recovery

As state and communities take early steps to reopen their economies, realtor.com predicted Wednesday that home sales in the United States will rebound in the late summer and early fall before experiencing a downturn late in the year. Overall, the forecast predicts home sales will be down 15 percent from 2019. “The U.S. housing market started 2020 with substantial momentum,” realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale said. “With some of the best home sales and housing starts in more than a decade, our biggest challenge going into the spring home-buying season was a lack of for sale homes. The coronavirus pandemic has kept both buyers and sellers on the sidelines, preserving market balance, for now.” Hale expects home sales will resemble…

Number Of Houses Being Listed Tumbles

The number of new houses going on the market is plummeting as the coronavirus pandemic wears on, according to an analysis released Monday by Redfin. The analysis found that there were fewer homes for sale in March than at any time since January 2012, when Redfin started tracking the data. New listings in March dropped 10.8 percent compared to March 2019. “Real estate activities nearly ground to a halt in some parts of the country by the end of March, disrupted by shelter in place laws,” Redfin lead economist Taylor Marr said. “Right now, sellers need to decide if they’ll list their home for sale among all the economic uncertainty.”  Redfin also found: By the last week of March, new…