How Are Buyers and Sellers Feeling During the Coronavirus Pandemic?

Both buyer and seller sentiment were down in March, but sellers are particularly wary of how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting market conditions. Just over half of homeowners still think it’s a good time to put their home on the market, a nearly 30 percentage point plummet from February, according to Fannie Mae’s monthly Home Purchase Sentiment Index. Buyers are also concerned, with the number of them who think it’s a good time to buy dropping 7 percentage points. But experts offer a glimmer of hope: This is not the Great Recession, and though this may be a bump in the road, the industry will not sustain nearly as much damage as it did when the housing bubble burst.

With the coronavirus pandemic bringing the U.S., and much of the world, to a screeching halt, only just over half of Americans think it's still a good time to sell a home.

Only 52% of homeowners believe it's still an opportune moment to put their place on the market—a steep month-over-month net decrease of 29 percentage points in March, according to Fannie Mae's monthly Home Purchase Sentiment Index. The index measures buyer and seller attitudes about the housing market.

Meanwhile, the net share of Americans who think it's a good time to buy a home, 56%, is down 7 percentage points from February to March.

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