Homebuilders Confidence Weak, But Steady

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)-Wells Fargo Housing Market Index for March came in at 28, unchanged from its revised reading for February. The index has increased for five consecutive months, and is now at its highest level since June 2007.

The NAHB’s chairman said:

While builders are still very cautious at this time, there is a sense that many local housing markets have started to move in the right direction and that prospects for future sales are improving. This is demonstrated by the fact that the HMI component measuring builder expectations continued climbing for a sixth straight month in March, to its highest level in more than four years.

Builders rated sales conditions slightly worse than last month, but future conditions slightly better.

This is good, but not great news. A survey reading of 50 or more indicates that more builders believe conditions are good rather than poor. Homebuilders are barely halfway there.