The Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI) rose by 2.2 percentage points in April to 86.7 percent and three percentage points compared to last year, according to April 2017’s National Housing Survey. Out of six total components, four saw positive gains when compared to March 2017.

Monthly and yearly comparisons are reported below:

Good time to buy

The net share of consumers who say it’s a good time to purchase a home was 30 percent, a five-point increase since March 2017 and April of last year.

Good time to sell

The net share of consumers reporting that it was a good time to sell was on a continual increase through the first months of 2017 until dropping by five points to 26 percent in April, coming down from March’s all-time high of 31 percent.

Rise in home prices

There was a one-point increase between March (44 percent) and April (45 percent) this year for the net share of consumers expecting a rise in home prices, which was a gain of eight points from April last year.

Movement in mortgage rate

The net share of consumers who think the mortgage rate will decrease has continued to fluctuate between 55 percent and 60 percent in 2017. There was a three-point increase seen in April (-57 percent) when compared to March (-60 percent), but it remained lower than last year’s net share of -46 percent.

Job concerns

Countering the drop it took from 78 percent to 70 percent in March 2017, the net share of Americans with no employment concerns rose by seven points in April of this year, a three-point increase since the same time last year.

Income changes

The net share of consumers who say their household income is significantly higher than it was 12 months ago rose by two points from March 2017 and April 2016 to 13 percent in April 2017.