An improvement in buyer traffic for new houses offset a drop in expectations by the nation’s homebuilders for sales during the spring.
As of November, the Housing Market Index, a snapshot of builder sentiment, was
a seasonally adjusted 63, no different than in October.
But home builder confidence has grown slightly more optimistic than in the same month last year, when the index was determined to be 62.
The index is a joint product of the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo.
An index in excess of 50 indicates that more builders view conditions as good than poor.
“With most of our members responding before the November elections, confidence levels remained unchanged as they awaited the results,” NAHB Chairman Ed Brady stated in the report.
The index is made up of three components, including current buyer traffic, which was up a point to 47 this month. At 69, the index gauging current sales conditions was no unchanged from a month earlier. The third component, sales expectations in the next six months, declined two points from October to 69.
With an index of 77 based on a three-month moving average, the index in the West was stronger than any other region and two points better than the previous month. The Midwest gained two points to 58, and the Northeast rose two points to 45.
In the South, the index was 66 as of November, the same as a month prior.
