Builders' confidence in the market for new single-family homes was higher as the National Association of Home Builders' housing market index rose to 60 in August from a downwardly revised 58 in July.
Thomson Reuters' poll of economists predicted the index would be 60.
The July reading was orginally reported as 59.
"New construction and new home sales are on the rise in most areas of the country, and this is helping to boost builder sentiment," NAHB Chairman Ed Brady said.
"Builder confidence remains solid in the aftermath of weak GDP reports that were offset by positive job growth in July," according to NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz. "Historically low mortgage rates, increased household formations and a firming labor market will help keep housing on an upward path during the rest of the year."
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 rose to 65 from 63, the sales expectations index for the next six months gained to 67 from 66; and the traffic of prospective buyers index slipped to 44 from 45.
