Fannie Mae Digitizes National Housing Survey; Equity Not Yet Fueling HELOC Boom; Foreclosure Normalization: No End in Sight; Rates Move Higher

Fannie Mae Digitizes National Housing Survey; Equity Not Yet Fueling HELOC Boom; Foreclosure Normalization: No End in Sight; Rates Move Higher

Fannie Mae's Economic & Strategic Research Group have taken the company's National Housing Survey (NHS), conducted since 2011, and attempted to distill and quantify some of the responses into a single monthly predictive indicator, their Home Purchase Sentiment Index. The HPSI, its creators say, is designed to provide distinct signals about the direction of the housing market , helping industry participants to make better informed business decisions. Fannie Mae notes that while there are other general indices of consumer economic sentiment, this will be the first dedicated entirely to housing. It uses the answers to six specific NHS questions that solicit consumers' evaluations of housing market conditions and address topics that are related to their home purchase decisions. The index is