For the second month in a row, confidence among the country’s home builders weakened. Leading the latest decline were builders in the South.
A barometer of U.S. single-family home builder confidence, the Housing Market Index,
was 64 as of July 2017 — the lowest it’s been since November 2016.
Although an index above 50 means more builders see conditions as good than those who see them as poor, the index fell for the second consecutive month from a downwardly revised 66 in June.
But confidence was stronger than in July 2016, when the index was a downwardly revised 58.
The index was published Tuesday by the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo.
“Our members are telling us they are growing increasingly concerned over rising material prices, particularly lumber,” NAHB Chairman Granger MacDonald said in the report. “This is hurting housing affordability even as consumer interest in the new-home market remains strong.”
Leading the month-over-month decline based on a three-month moving average was the South, where the index deteriorated three points to 67.
A 1-basis-point drop left the indices at 75 in the
West and 66 in the Midwest.
The only increase from a month earlier, 1 basis point, was in the Northeast, where the index landed at 47.
The national index is derived from an NAHB survey based on three component indices.
The first component index, buyer traffic, was off a point to 48. The component that gauges current sales conditions retreated two points to 70. Also off two points was the component that reflects sales expectations for the next six month, to 73.
