It’s a market for sellers right now

Homeowners who think now is a good time to sell are at an all-time high, according to Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index™ (HPSI).

The net percentage of Americans who think it’s a good time to sell is up to 15 percent, an increase of 16 percentage points.

Meanwhile, the number of those looking to buy who think now is a good time has hit an all-time low in the survey. The net share of participants who think that it is a good time to buy a house dropped to 3 percent, a decrease of 3 percentage points.

“We can partially attribute the sizable gain in April in homeselling optimism both to a correction for last month’s unexpected dip and to typical seasonal strength in housing activity in the spring and summer,” said Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae. “Even after accounting for these factors, continued tight housing supply has led to renewed strength in home price appreciation, making selling a home a more attractive prospect this year in particular. This improved sentiment could provide an extra boost of much-needed supply for the spring selling season.”

According to the report, more consumers believe home prices will continue to rise over the next year, while the net share of those who believe that mortgage rates will decline decrease by 1 percentage point, to a negative 46 percent. The number of respondents who said they are not concerned with losing their job increased 6 percentage points to 74 percent, and the net share of respondents who said their household income is significantly higher than it was one year ago remained stable at 11 percent.