--- title: A Record Low Percentage of People Say It's a Good Time to Buy a House description: Only 16% of Americans think it's a good time to buy a home — it's a record low, according to a new Fannie Mae survey. authors: - name: Sarah Hansen role: Senior Writer url: https://money.com/author/sarah-hansen/ bio: Sarah Hansen is a senior writer at Money covering all things personal finance. Previously, she covered economic policy and capital markets on the breaking news desk at Forbes. education: Northwestern University, New York University at_money_since: 2021 articles: 347 covers: - Housing - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes social: - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-m-hansen/ former_staff: true editors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Housing - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2022-11-08T18:30:06.000Z' modified: '2023-03-16T19:06:19.000Z' section: Housing tags: - News word_count: 460 canonical: https://money.com/good-time-to-buy-house-survey/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Person looking at real estate sign](https://img.money.com/2022/11/News-Low-Percentage-People-Time-Buy-House.jpg) Presented by ![](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/38138/a1d25ab8-422a-48d0-9bc7-c9801c2d423d.webp) Becoming a homeowner is closer than you think with AmeriSave Mortgage. Don't wait any longer, start your journey today! [Go to AmeriSave.com](https://money.com/pr/vfba9b7bee33?ap_referrer=%2Fgood-time-to-buy-house-survey%2F) Americans are feeling worse and worse about the housing market. [Survey data](https://www.fanniemae.com/media/45186/display) released this week by Fannie Mae showed that the share of people who believe it’s a good time to buy a house dropped to a low of 16% in October. (That's the lowest percentage ever recorded by Fannie Mae, though the data has only been tracked since 2010.) Meanwhile, 80% of the 1,000 surveyed said they believe right now is a bad time to buy a home. For the sake of comparison, back in February the share of Americans who said it was a [bad time to buy](https://money.com/good-time-to-buy-home-poll/) in a similar Fannie Mae survey was 70%, and 25% said it was a good time to buy. In October 2020, 60% of people said it was a good time to buy and only 35% said it was a bad time. The recent pessimism in the market shouldn't come as a surprise. [Mortgage rates](https://money.com/current-mortgage-rates/) near 7% mean borrowing costs are simply too high for many people to afford. At the same time, home prices are still 7.5% higher than they were a year ago, according to [data](https://www.redfin.com/us-housing-market) from real estate brokerage Redfin. The rapid pace of price growth, however, is slowing. ## Want to buy a home this year? Lendingtree Mortgage can help ### Lock in a Mortgage Rate before you start shopping. Lendingtree Mortgage can make it possible. Click on your state today to find the rate that’s right for you. [View Rates](https://money.com/pr/e71aa882c4b0?ap_referrer=%2Fgood-time-to-buy-house-survey%2F) Not all products are eligible. All loans are subject to credit approval. [Additional](https://www.amerisave.com/lock-shop/) terms & conditions apply. ## Cooling housing market, more negotiating power for buyers In the coming months, Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae senior vice president and chief economist, expects the market to keep cooling. “As continued affordability constraints reduce homebuyer demand, and homeowners become reluctant to sell at potentially reduced prices, we expect home sales to slow even further in the coming months, he said in a [news release](https://www.fanniemae.com/newsroom/fannie-mae-news/consumer-confidence-housing-hits-new-all-time-low). Americans agree with him. Fannie Mae survey data shows that on average, people expect home prices to fall 1.4% over the next 12 months. Back in August, Americans were predicting a much smaller [drop of 0.4%](https://money.com/home-prices-will-fall-survey/). For those buyers who can still afford it, a quickly cooling housing market could represent a great opportunity. Fewer buyers in the market means [less competition](https://money.com/housing-market-cooldown-bidding-wars/) for homes, and less competition means sellers should be more likely to [cut house list prices](https://money.com/dropping-home-list-prices-high-rate/). "Buyers may think it's better to wait out the market, but in reality, there is more opportunity in this market than I have seen in the past five years if buyers approach real estate as a long-term investment,” Salt Lake City real estate agent Michael Perry said in a recent Zillow [news release](https://zillow.mediaroom.com/2022-11-07-Home-buyers-and-sellers-biggest-misconceptions-in-a-shifting-market). “If a buyer can purchase today, they have bargaining power, more options and more time to find the right home, instead of being rushed into a purchase they might regret." ## Take the first step to becoming a homeowner today ### Get a Mortgage Rate that works for you. Lendingtree Mortgage can help you get started with just a few clicks. Get started now by clicking below. [View Rates](https://money.com/pr/h08d66976da7?ap_referrer=%2Fgood-time-to-buy-house-survey%2F) Not all products are eligible. All loans are subject to credit approval. 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