Home builder confidence bounces up in July

Builder confidence for newly built, single-family homes rose two points on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) for July.

The gain largely offsets a three-point dip recorded in June, and marks the ninth time out of the past 10 months in which the index has held within the same three-point range.

“While builders continue to confront serious challenges with regard to competition from foreclosed properties that are priced below replacement cost, inaccurate appraisals of new homes, and a very restrictive lending environment for new home construction, select markets are showing gradual improvement as consumers begin to take advantage of very favorable buying conditions,”
said Bob Nielsen, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).

Derived from a monthly survey that NAHB has been conducting 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.