Builders’ confidence in the market for new single-family homes was unchanged as the National Association of Home Builders' housing market index remained at 58 in March.
The February reading was unrevised.
Thomson Reuters' poll of economists predicted the index would be 59.
“Confidence levels are hovering above the 50-point mid-range, indicating that the single-family market continues to make slow but steady progress,” NAHB Chairman Ed Brady said. “However, builders continue to report problems regarding a shortage of lots and labor.”
“While builder sentiment has been relatively flat for the last few months, the March HMI reading correlates with NAHB’s forecast of a steady firming of the single-family sector in 2016,” according to NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. “Solid job growth, low mortgage rates and improving mortgage availability will help keep the housing market on a gradual upward trajectory in the coming months.”
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 stayed at 65, the sales expectations index for the next six months dropped to 61 from 64; and the traffic of prospective buyers index grew to 43 from 39.
