Builders’ confidence in the market for new single-family homes was higher as the National Association of Home Builders' housing market index — a monthly gauge of builder sentiment — rose to 62 in September from 61 in August.
Thomson Reuters' poll of economists predicted the index would be 61.
“The HMI shows that single-family housing is making solid progress,” NAHB Chairman Tom Woods said. “However, our members continue to tell us that they are concerned about the availability of lots and labor.”
“NAHB is projecting about 1.1 million total housing starts this year,” according to NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. “Today's report is consistent with our forecast, and barring any unexpected jolts, we expect housing to keep moving forward at a steady, modest rate through the end 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 increased to 67 from 66, the sales expectations index for the next six months slid to 68 from 70; and the traffic of prospective buyers index rose to 47 from 45.
