The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) maintains consumer confidence in the newly-built single-family homes market remains firm.
Officials said the Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) reflected a 67 August reading, on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), as builders continue to report strong demand for new housing, fueled by steady job and income growth along with rising household formations.
“The solid economic expansion and firm job market should spur demand for new single-family homes in the months ahead,” Robert Dietz, NAHB chief economist, said. “Meanwhile, builders continue to monitor how tariffs and the growing threat of a trade war are affecting key building material prices, including lumber. These cost increases, coupled with rising interest rates, are putting upward pressure on home prices and contributing to growing affordability challenges.”
Officials said the NAHB / Wells Fargo HMI gauges builder perceptions of current single-family home sales and sales expectations for the next six months as good, fair or poor. It asks builders to rate traffic of prospective buyers as high to very high, average or low to very low.
The scores for are then used to calculate a seasonally adjusted index where any number over 50 indicates that more builders view conditions as good than poor.