The MReport Webcast: Wednesday 9/9/2015

Consumer attitudes toward the real estate market slid down in August due to economic concerns, Fannie Mae reported in their newly launched Home Purchase Sentiment Index. In August 2015, the HPSI fell 0.5 points from July to 80.8. The sentiment level is also down from the peak reached in June 2015 of 84.7 and the index is up 5.3 points from August 2014.

The index found that 63 percent of respondents indicated that now is a good time to buy a home, up 2 percentage points from last month, while 47 percent said that now is good time to sell a home and 44 percent say it's a bad time. In addition, 47 percent of survey participants noted that home prices will go up over the next year, and 9 percent said that prices will go down.

Homeowners continued to overvalue their homes for the seventh consecutive month in August when compared with appraiser opinions. Quicken Loans reported that homeowner estimates were 2.65 percent higher than appraiser opinions, the largest gap in over a year. The company also reported that national home values were almost flat in August, declining 0.05 percent from July, when values dropped 0.27 percent. Annually, home value rose 3.24 percent from August 2014, according to the Home Value Index.