Building prospects looking up

Builder confidence sees largest rise in 18 months!

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) jumped four points in October, the largest increase in builder confidence in 18 months. “This latest boost in builder confidence is a good sign that some pockets of recovery are starting to emerge across the country, as extremely favorable interest rates and prices catch consumers’ attention,” said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. Derived from a monthly survey NAHB has conducted for more than 20 years, the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index gauges builder perceptions of current single-family home sales and sales expectations for the next six months as “good,” “fair,” or “poor.”Each of the HMI three component indexes recorded substantial gains in October. The component gauging current sales conditions rose four points, the component gauging sales expectations in the next six months rose seven points, and the component gauging traffic of prospective buyers rose three points.Regionally, the West led all other areas of the country with its nine-point gain – the highest HMI score for that region since August 2007. The Midwest and South each recorded four-point gains while the Northeast held unchanged.
With builder confidence on the rise, celebrating the New Year takes on a whole new meaning!
We at Seattle simpleFLOORS are hopeful for our region, and all builders across the country!