Builders' confidence in the market for new single-family homes grew as the National Association of Home Builders' housing market index — a monthly gauge of builder sentiment — slipped to 57 in December from 58 in November.
Thomson Reuters' poll of economists predicted the index would be 58.
"Members in many markets across the country have seen their businesses improve over the course of the year, and we expect builders to remain confident in 2015," NAHB Chairman Kevin Kelly said.
"After a sluggish start to 2014, the HMI has stabilized in the mid-to-high 50s index level trend for the past six months, which is consistent with our assessment that we are in a slow march back to normal," according to NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. "As we head into 2015, the housing market should continue to recover at a steady, gradual pace."
Derived from a monthly survey that NAHB has been conducting for 30 years, the NAHB/Wells Fargo HMI gauges builder perceptions of current single-family home sales and sales expectations for the next six months as either "good," "fair" or "poor." The survey also asks builders to rate traffic of prospective buyers as either "high to very high," "average" or "low to very low." Scores for each component are then used to calculate a seasonally adjusted index where any number over 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as good than poor.
The current single-family home sales index dipped to 61 from 62, the sales expectations index for the next six months slipped to 65 from 66; and the traffic of prospective buyers index remained at 45.
