The Home Purchase Sentiment Index: A New Housing Indicator

We built a home purchase sentiment index (HPSI) with consumers' responses to questions about home buying and selling conditions, income gains and job concerns, and house price and mortgage rate expectations. The HPSI can help forecast mortgage originations and house prices, sales, and starts. Forecasting horse races during 2012-14 show the HPSI handily outperformed other sentiment indices. We show differences in the HPSI by income and by age groups. We also suggest other aspects of housing where survey-based indicators may help, such as demand by millennials or seniors, home owners' moving, renters' intentions, and mortgage refinancing, delinquency, or default rates.