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Each day the Research staff takes a look at recently released economic indicators, addressing what these indicators mean for REALTORS® and their clients. Today’s update discusses the housing market index from the National Association of Home Builders.
- Today’s Housing Market Index (HMI) from NAHB showed that builders' confidence for new single-family homes was unchanged from the month before. The HMI is now holding at the highest level since June of 2007 and it is double the level it was six months ago.
- The HMI component measuring current sales conditions fell one point to 29 in March, however, the current level is more than double that back in September. The component measuring sales expectations in the next six months showed the most optimism, jumping two points to 36. The component measuring traffic of prospective buyers maintained at 22.
- Regionally, the West was the only region where the index declined, but that’s following February’s unusual jump of 22 points. In the Northeast, the HMI was up 5 points to 25. In the Midwest, it was up 2 points to 32, and in the South, it was also up 2 points to 27. Any reading below 50 suggests that conditions are not improving, though an increase in the index levels indicates that trends are moving in the right direction.
- Though the homebuilder confidence is improving, the increase in the index is likely being held back due to ongoing difficulty related to construction and land loan accessibility.
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