Builders' confidence in the market for new single-family homes was lower as the National Association of Home Builders' housing market index - a monthly gauge of builder sentiment – fell to 62 in November from 65 in October.
The October reading was originally reported as 64.
Thomson Reuters' poll of economists predicted the index would be 64.
"Even with this month's drop, builder confidence has remained in the 60s for six straight months — a sign that the single-family housing market is making long-term headway," NAHB Chairman Tom Woods said. "However, our members continue to voice concerns about the availability of lots and labor."
"The November report is pullback from an unusually high October, and is more in line with the consistent, modest growth that we have seen throughout the year," according to NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. "A firming economy, continued job creation and affordable mortgage rates should keep housing on an upward trajectory as we approach 2016."
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 declined to 67 from 70, the sales expectations index for the next six months slumped to 70 from 75; and the traffic of prospective buyers index inched up to 48 from 47.
