Confidence in housing slipped from an all-time high in October in the Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index® (HPSI), thanks to less optimism from both homebuyers and sellers—a sentiment somewhat typical for this time of year. The HPSI overall posted 85.2 in October, 3.1 percentage points lower than the month prior.

“The modest decrease in October’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index is driven in large part by decreases in favorable views of the current home-buying and home-selling climates, a shift we expect at this time of year moving out of the summer home-buying season,” says Doug Duncan, chief economist and senior vice president at Fannie Mae. “Indicators of broader economic and personal financial sentiment remain relatively steady. Overall, these results are consistent with our view that the housing market will continue its slow, upward grind through 2018.”

The share of homebuyers surveyed for the Index who believe now is a good time to buy fell six percentage points to 22 percent, while the share of sellers who believe now is a good time to sell fell eight percentage points to 30 percent. The share of those surveyed who believe home prices will go up did not change from September, at 40 percent.

Source: Fannie Mae

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