The confidence from home builders increased in August vs July as reported by the National Association of Home Builders. A score of 50 or more indicates that more builders view market conditions as favorable.
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The latest builder survey follows a recent surge in the sales of new US homes.
Just 62 percent of both new and existing homes sold between the beginning of April and end of June were affordable to families earning the USA median income of $65,700, according to the NAHB; this is down from the 65 percent in the first quarter.
The index measures how builders rate current and future market conditions for new home sales. The agency is set to release July figures Tuesday. The U.S. economy added a solid 255,000 jobs in July, however. Meanwhile, the average for the benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 3.45 percent last week, down sharply from 3.94 percent a year ago, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac.
Those trends should keep housing “on an upward path during the rest of the year”, said Robert Dietz, the NAHB’s chief economist.
“New construction and new home sales are on the rise in most areas of the country, and this is helping to boost builder sentiment”, said NAHB Chairman Ed Brady. Forecasts for single-family sales in the next six months went up by one point to a score of 67, the fourth straight month hovering over a mark of 65. A gauge of traffic by prospective buyers fell one point to 44.
Over the past three months, builder confidence was highest in the West region at 69, followed by the South (63), the Midwest (55) and the Northeast (41).
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The three-month moving averages varied.
