Home Builders Growing More Confident

Washington, DC, Dec. 17, 2013 -- Builder confidence in the market for single-family homes improved four points to a 58 reading on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index for December.

The increase reflected improvement in all three index components – current sales conditions, sales expectations and traffic of prospective buyers.

“This is definitely an encouraging sign as we move into 2014,” said National Association of Home Builders Chairman Rick Judson.

“The HMI is up 11 points since December of 2012 and has been above 50 for the past seven months. This indicates that an increasing number of builders have a positive view on where the industry is going.”

NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe said rising mortgage interest rates haven't deterred consumers.

“Following a two-month pause in the index, this uptick is due in part to release of the pent-up demand caused by the uncertainty generated by the October government shutdown," Crowe said.

"We continue to look for a gradual improvement in the housing recovery in the year ahead.”

Any number over 50 indicates that more builders view conditions as good than poor.

All three HMI components posted gains in December. The index gauging current sales conditions jumped six points to 64, while the index gauging expectations for future sales rose two points to 62. The index gauging traffic of prospective buyers gained three points to 44.