More Consumers Anticipate Purchasing a Home in the Next Four Months

The recently-published New York Federal Reserve Bank, December Household Spending Survey — with additional analysis provided by the National Home Builders Association — reveals a modest increase in household spending over the past four months (September through December), and a noticeable increase in the median expectation for year-ahead household spending to highest level since August 2015. Only 2.2% of households bought a house or apartment over the past four months, lower than the 3.8% in August. However, the average percentage of households planning to buy houses within the next four months jumped from a series low of 3.3% in August to 6.2% in December. The Survey of Consumer Expectations (SCE) is a monthly survey of U.S. households by the New York Federal Reserve Bank. The survey collects timely information on consumers’ expectations and decisions on a broad variety of topics, including but not limited to inflation, household finance, the labor market, and the housing market. The survey showed that the median increase in monthly household spending compared with a year ago retreated from 1.9% in August to 1.6% in December but was higher than the record-low 1.0% in April. The decline was largely driven by the 40 to 60 age group and by lower income (below $50,000) households.