Builder Confidence Up One Point in June
Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes gained one point in June from May's revised number, to 29, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI).
Released today, the index is at the highest level since May 2007.
"While the June HMI is in keeping with our forecast for gradually improving single-family home sales this year, recent economic reports that have shown some weakening in the pace of recovery likely factored into the marginal gain," said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. "In addition, builders across the country continue to report that overly tight lending conditions and inaccurate appraisals are major obstacles to completing sales at this time."
May's index was four points up from April.
The monthly survey gauges builder perceptions of home sales and expectations for the next six months. It also asks them to rate the traffic of prospective buyers. Those numbers are used to calculate a seasonally adjusted index in which numbers above 50 indicate that more builders view conditions as good than poor. In June, sales expectations in the next six months and traffic of prospective buyers were unchanged at 34 and 23, respectively. Regionally, the Northeast had a two-point decline to 29. The South also declined, while the Midwest and West had gains.
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