Builders’ confidence in the market for new single-family homes was flat in December, as the National Association of Home Builders’ housing market index remained at a record low of 9, the group announced yesterday.
Thomson Reuters’ poll of economists predicted a level of 9.
“We have seen no improvement over the past month in terms of sales conditions for new homes,” said NAHB chief economist David Crowe. “In fact, certain factors have gotten progressively worse, not the least of which is the job market, where massive layoffs are having a devastating effect on consumer confidence. At this point it will take definitive government action to stop the slide in home values and turn the tide of consumer sentiment. Expanding the first-time buyer tax credit and providing government action to reduce mortgage rates would go a long way toward arresting this downward spiral, just as a combination of similar moves worked in the 1970s to boost the housing market and economy.”
