Homebuying Attitudes Are Improving

More homebuyers think that now is a good time to buy a home than they did at the end of last year, per new sentiment data by government-backed lender Fannie Mae.

From December 2018 to January 2019, buyer confidence increased four percent to 15 percent overall. Home price growth hit a six-year slow pace, according to CoreLogic, affecting the share of Americans who believe home prices will continue to rise, down one percent to 30 percent, part of a four-month downward trend, per Fannie Mae, CNBC reports.

Seventy-six percent of potential homebuyers estimated they could afford fewer than half the homes for sale in their markets, according to a year-end poll from the National Association of Home Builders. That share is lower than the 79 percent who shared that perception in the fourth quarter of 2017, but not by much.

"In the year ended in the fourth quarter of 2018, there was not a lot of change in how homebuyers perceived their ability to afford homes available in their markets," said Rose Quint, author of the NAHB survey.

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