From Inman News Features
Builder confidence in the market for new single-family homes stabilized in early April after falling substantially due to war and economy jitters as well as unusually bad weather, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reported last month.
NAHB’s Housing Market Index (HMI), a monthly gauge of builder sentiment, remained unchanged at 52 in April, and a key component indicated that many builders are expecting housing market conditions to improve over the next six months.
“Signs that the situation in Iraq is under control and that consumer confidence is reviving are giving builders a sense of reassurance,” said Kent Conine, NAHB president and a home and apartment builder from Dallas. “The feeling is that the housing market is on stable footing and poised for improvement in the near future.”
The HMI is derived from a monthly survey of builders that NAHB has been conducting for nearly 20 years.
Home builders are asked to rate current sales of single-family homes and sales expectations for the next six months as “good,” “fair” or “poor.” They are also asked to rate traffic of prospective buyers as either “high to very high,” “average” or “low to very low.”
Scores for responses to each component are used to calculate a seasonally adjusted index, where any number over 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as good than poor.