More Americans say now is a bad time to buy a home Skip Navigation watchlive Markets Pre-Markets U.S. Markets Currencies Cryptocurrency Futures & Commodities Bonds Funds & ETFs Business Economy Finance Health & Science Media Real Estate Energy Climate Transportation Industrials Retail Wealth Life Small Business Investing Personal Finance Fintech Financial Advisors Options Action ETF Street Buffett Archive Earnings Trader Talk Tech Cybersecurity Enterprise Internet Media Mobile Social Media CNBC Disruptor 50 Tech Guide Politics White House Policy Defense Congress Equity and Opportunity CNBC TV Live TV Live Audio Business Day Shows The News with Shepard Smith Entertainment Shows Full Episodes Latest Video Top Video CEO Interviews CNBC Documentaries CNBC Podcasts CNBC World Digital Originals Live TV Schedule Watchlist Investing Club Trade Alerts Jim's Morning Thoughts Analysis Morning Meeting Trust Portfolio PRO Pro News Pro Live Subscribe Sign In Menu Make It USA INTL watchlive Search quotes, news & videos Watchlist SIGN IN Create free account Markets Business Investing Tech Politics CNBC TV Watchlist Investing Club PRO Menu Real Estate More Americans say now is a bad time to buy a home Published Thu, Nov 7 201910:14 AM EST Updated Thu, Nov 7 20191:20 PM EST Diana Olick@in/dianaolick@DianaOlickCNBC@DianaOlick WATCH LIVE Key Points Just 21% of Americans say now is a good time to buy a home, a drop from 28% in September, according to a monthly sentiment survey by Fannie Mae. There was also a decline in the share of people who think now is a good time to sell a home, from 44% to 41%. The problem is price. Affordability has weakened considerably since the surge in summer buying. An 'Open House' sign is displayed in the front yard of a home for sale in Columbus, Ohio. Ty Wright | Bloomberg | Getty Images After a strong summer in the housing market, something is turning potential buyers on their heels. Just 21% of Americans say now is a good time to buy a home, a drop from 28% in September, according to a monthly sentiment survey by Fannie Mae. There was also a decline in the share of people who think now is a good time to sell a home, from 44% to 41%. related investing news 3 takeaways from our daily meeting: Bonds vs. stocks, oil's plunge, a small buy in tough market Paulina Likos a day ago BMO upgrades Domino's Pizza, predicts 35% rebound in struggling stock Carmen Reinicke a day ago Wall Street pros are watching this index to get an early sign that inflation is slowing Carmen Reinicke 2 days ago The problem is price. Affordability has weakened considerably since the surge in summer buying. Home price gains had been cooling off at the start of this year, but then mortgage rates began falling, buyers rushed in and prices heated up. Now mortgage rates are rising again, adding to the problem. "The 'good time to buy' component has declined notably, despite low mortgage rates, due in part to the persistent challenge of a lack of affordable housing supply," wrote Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae's chief economist, in a release. "In turn, the net share of consumers expecting home prices to increase over the next 12 months has fallen to its lowest reading in seven years." Consumers may believe prices will not rise, but current market dynamics say otherwise. An overwhelming majority, 93%, of metropolitan housing markets, saw price gains in the third quarter of this year, according to a new report from the National Association of Realtors. That's up from 91% in the second quarter. "Incremental price increases are to be expected, but the housing market has been seeing reacceleration in home prices as more buyers want to take on lower interest rates in the midst of insufficient supply," said Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the Realtors. "Unfortunately, income and wages are not rising as fast and will make it difficult to buy once rates rise." The supply of entry-level homes for sale is extremely low, and homebuilders are not only still operating below normal production levels, they are not pivoting meaningfully to the entry-level market. "It's not just the overall supply of new construction that's gone down, but the supply of starter homes, so it's the affordability challenge at the entry level that's been a particular challenge," said Rob Dietz, chief economist at the National Association of Home Builders. "Right now only about 10% of newly-built home sales are priced under $200,000. Five years ago that share was 1 in 5, and 10 years ago it was 40% of new home sales priced under $200,000." Overall consumer sentiment in housing is still strong, because mortgage rates are lower this year than last year, and the labor market is solid. But one component of the survey portends weaker sentiment ahead: Fewer people said their household income was slightly higher than it was a year ago. Just 16% said it was, down from 21% in September. That could be the one factor that will tame prices going forward. "I think what's going to hold them back from over-heating is that prices have risen so fast relative to incomes," said Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at Redfin. "Any time prices get too high, there's going to be this reaction where there just aren't enough homebuyers to purchase those homes." watch now VIDEO3:0103:01 3 ways to invest in real estate when you don't have loads of cash Invest in You: Ready. Set. Grow. TV WATCH LIVE WATCH IN THE APP UP NEXT | ETListen TV WATCH LIVE WATCH IN THE APP UP NEXT | ETListen Subscribe to CNBC PRO Licensing & Reprints CNBC Councils Supply Chain Values CNBC on Peacock Join the CNBC Panel Digital Products News Releases Closed Captioning Corrections About CNBC Internships Site Map Podcasts Ad Choices Careers Help Contact News Tips Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you. 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