Builders’ confidence in the market for new single-family homes slipped as the National Association of Home Builders' housing market index fell to 67 in June from a downwardly revised 69 in May.
The May index was originally reported as 70.
“Builder confidence levels have remained consistently sound this year, reflecting the ongoing gradual recovery of the housing market,” NAHB Chairman Granger MacDonald said.
“As the housing market strengthens and more buyers enter the market, builders continue to express their frustration over an ongoing shortage of skilled labor and buildable lots that is impeding stronger growth in the single-family sector,” according to NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz.
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 fell to 73 from 74 the sales expectations index for the next six months decreased to 76 from 78; and the traffic of prospective buyers index dipped to 49 from 51.
