Builders' confidence in the market for new single-family homes was steady as the National Association of Home Builders' housing market index - a monthly gauge of builder sentiment – remained at 60 in January from a downwardly revised 60 in December.
The December reading was originally reported as 61.
Thomson Reuters' poll of economists predicted the index would be 60.
"After eight months hovering in the low 60s, builder sentiment is reflecting that many markets continue to show a gradual improvement, which should bode well for future home sales in the year ahead," NAHB Chairman Tom Woods said.
"January's HMI reading is right in line with our forecast of modest growth for housing," according to NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. "The economic outlook remains promising, as consumers regain confidence and home values increase, which will help the housing market move forward."
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 gained to 67 from 65, the sales expectations index for the next six months slumped to 63 from 66; and the traffic of prospective buyers index slipped to 44 from 46.
