| 
A new survey from Fannie Mae has found that, despite the coronavius outbreak in countries around the world, a majority of Americans in February thought it was still a good time to buy a house.
The Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI) dipped slightly in February, decreasing 0.5 points to 92.5 but remaining near its survey high of 93.8. Three of the six HPSI components decreased month-over-month, including the percentage of Americans who believe that now is a good time to buy a home. Year over year, the HPSI is up 8.2 points, reflecting in part consumers’ more favorable mortgage rate expectations, despite that index component moderating this month.
“The HPSI remained relatively steady in February, reflecting another month of robust consumer sentiment consistent with strong housing market data to start the year,” Fannie Mae Chief Economist Doug Duncan said in a statement. “In particular, household income sentiment picked back up as more workers saw their wages rise amid tight labor market conditions, helping bolster already strong housing demand.”
The survey did not fully capture the impact of the stock market’s recent gyrations, Duncan said, due to the survey’s timing. Data collection ended Feb. 22, the day before a sudden surge in COVID-19 cases was reported in Italy but weeks after the Chinese government locked down many of its cities to limit the illness’ spread.
“We may see some volatility in sentiment in the months ahead as these circumstances play out,” he said..
The Fannie Mae survey found slight indications of rising pessimism in some of its sub-components:
- Good/Bad Time to Buy: The percentage of Americans who say it is a good time to buy remained the same this month at 59 percent, while the percentage who say it is a bad time to buy increased from 30 percent to 32 percent. As a result, the net share of Americans who say it is a good time to buy decreased 2 percentage points.
- Good/Bad Time to Sell: The percentage of Americans who say it is a good time to sell increased from 66 percent to 67 percent, while the percentage who say it’s a bad time to sell increased from 21 percent to 22 percent. As a result, the net share of those who say it is a good time to sell stayed the same.
- Home Price Expectations: The percentage of Americans who say home prices will go up in the next 12 months decreased this month from 48 percent to 47 percent, while the percentage who said home prices will go down increased from 7 percent to 8 percent. The share who think home prices will stay the same remained unchanged at 38 percent. As a result, the net share of Americans who say home prices will go up decreased 2 percentage points.
- Mortgage Rate Expectations: The percentage of Americans who say mortgage rates will go down in the next 12 months increased this month from 7 percent to 8 percent, while the percentage who expect mortgage rates to go up increased from 33 percent to 38 percent. The share who think mortgage rates will stay the same decreased from 48 percent to 46 percent. As a result, the net share of Americans who say mortgage rates will go down over the next 12 months decreased 4 percentage points.
- Job Concerns: The percentage of Americans who say they are not concerned about losing their job in the next 12 months decreased from 86 percent to 85 percent, while the percentage who say they are concerned decreased from 14 percent to 13 percent. As a result, the net share of Americans who say they are not concerned about losing their job remained unchanged.
- Household Income: The percentage of Americans who say their household income is significantly higher than it was 12 months ago increased from 27 percent to 32 percent, while the percentage who say their household income is significantly lower remained the same at 11 percent. The percentage who say their household income is about the same decreased from 61 percent to 56 percent. As a result, the net share of those who say their household income is significantly higher than it was 12 months ago increased 5 percentage points.
Stocks plummeted Monday morning on Wall Street on a combination of coronavirus fears and plunging oil prices, triggering a brief, automatic halt in trading to let investors catch their breath.
The price of oil sank 20 percent after Russia refused to roll back production in response to falling prices and Saudi Arabia signaled that it will ramp up its output. The S&P 500 plunged as much as 7.4 percent in the first few minutes of trading, and losses were so sharp that trading was temporarily halted. Stocks trimmed their losses following the halt, and the index was down 6 percent, as of 11:12 a.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1,619 points, or 6.2 percent, to 24,261 after briefly being down more than 2,000. The Nasdaq gave up 5.6 percent.
.In recent weeks, traders have grappled with significant uncertainty and a lack of data about how much damage the coronavirus and quarantine measures in countries like China was doing to global supply chains and consumer demand.
The number of people in Massachusetts who have tested positive for the new coronavirus more than doubled on Sunday to 28, up from 13 on Saturday, state public health officials said.
All 15 of the new cases had a direct connection to a meeting of the biotech firm Biogen that was held for company employees at a Boston hotel late last month, the state Department of Public Health said in an emailed statement.
The new cases include eight men and seven women. Most of them live in the greater Boston area. They range in age from in their 30s to 60s. All are in isolation at home. Of the state’s 28 cases, 23 are associated with the Biogen meeting.
The virus that causes the disease COVID-19 has infected more than 100,000 people worldwide and killed more than 3,400, mostly in China.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
