Builder confidence improves slightly in November

Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes improved slightly in November, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), released today [Nov. 16]. The HMI rose one notch to 16 from a downwardly revised level of 15 in the previous month.

"Though the gains have been incremental, the fact that builder confidence has improved over the past two months is encouraging," said NAHB Chairman Bob Jones, a home builder from Bloomfield Hills, Mich. "Many builders are reporting that while the quantity of buyer traffic through their model homes has not improved dramatically, the quality of that traffic seems to be getting better – meaning that more people appear to be serious about buying in the near future. Builders remain very concerned, however, about the lack of available financing for new-home construction at a time when inventories of completed new homes are quite thin; after all, you can't sell what you can't build," according to a Nov. 16 NAHB report.

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