Homebuyer Optimism Increases in July
Housing sentiment inched up as Fannie Mae’s index rose to 71.8. Job loss fears fell, home price and mortgage rate outlooks improved, but buying conditions declined.
WASHINGTON — Consumers sentiment about the housing market ticked up slightly in July, with the overall index increasing from 69.8 to 71.8, Fannie Mae researchers found in the July 2025 National Housing Survey.
Seller optimism remained unchanged since June – a majority of consumers (60%) saying it’s a good time to sell, while 39% say it’s a bad time to sell, according to Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI).
The survey results showed increases in four categories: job loss concern, home price outlook, mortgage rate outlook and change in household income. For the study, Fannie Mae looks at six components: buying conditions; selling conditions; home price outlook (next 12 months); mortgage rate outlook (next 12 months); job loss concern (next 12 months); and change in household income (past 12 months).
“Buying conditions was the only HPSI component that declined this month. Selling conditions were unchanged month over month (MoM),” Fannie Mae said.
The biggest improvement in July came from the job loss question with the percentage of respondents fearful of losing their jobs falling to 24% from 29% the previous month, Joel Berner, a Realtor.com senior economist, said.
“The responses to this question have been concerning in recent months, as tariff-induced instability in the labor market has colored the outlook of prospective homebuyers,” he said.
Other details from the National Housing Survey:
- The net share of consumers who say home prices will go up (28%) increased 5 percentage points since last month. The share of consumers who expect home prices to go up increased 1 percentage point to 46%, while the share who expect prices to go down decreased 4 percentage points to 18%.
- The net share of consumers who say mortgage rates will go down in the next 12 months increased 5 percentage points to -4% in July.
- Consumers expect rental prices to increase 6.0% on average (a 0.3 percentage-point increase MoM) and home prices to increase 2.6% on average (a 0.5 percentage-point increase MoM) over the next year.
About the survey: The National Housing Survey polled a nationally representative sample of 1,140 household financial decision makers (margin of error ± 3.87 percentage points) aged 18 and older between July 1 and July 21, 2025. Most of the data collection occurred during the first two weeks of this period.
Source: Fannie Mae
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