By Jann Swanson | Mortgage News Daily
Builders have tied their 32-year old record for confidence as measured by the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). The Index, which has been conducted by NAHB for 35 years, jumped by 6 points in August to 78 and is also 6 points higher than it was in March, before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down some construction sites and shut in much of the buying public. The last time the HMI was this high was in December 1988. Builders also set a survey high with their perceptions of buyer traffic.
Derived from a monthly survey that NAHB has been conducting for 30 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 as “good,” “fair” or “poor.” The survey also asks builders to rate traffic of prospective buyers as “high to very high,” “average” or “low to very low.” Scores for each component are then used to calculate a seasonally adjusted index where any number over 50 indicates that more builders view conditions as good than poor.
