U.S. Builder Confidence Dips in December

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According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), U.S. home builder confidence in the market for newly constructed single-family homes remained relatively flat in December, dropping one point to 61 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI).

"Overall, builders are optimistic about the housing market, although they are reporting concerns with the high price of lots and labor," said NAHB Chairman Tom Woods, a home builder from Blue Springs, Mo.

"For the past seven months, builder confidence levels have averaged in the low 60s, which is in line with a gradual, consistent recovery," said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. "With job creation, economic growth and growing household formations, we anticipate the housing market to continue to pick up traction as we head into 2016."

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.

All three HMI components posted modest losses in December. The index measuring sales expectations in the next six months fell two points to 67, the component gauging current sales conditions decreased one point to 66, and the index charting buyer traffic dropped two points to 46.

Looking at the three-month moving averages for regional HMI scores, the West increased three points to 76 while the Northeast rose a single point to 50. Meanwhile the Midwest dropped two points to 58 and the South fell one point to 64.