Construction Costs, Buyer Traffic Continue to Sap Builder Confidence

Construction Costs, Buyer Traffic Continue to Sap Builder Confidence

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) fell another 5 points in November. NAHB said this measure of builder confidence in the new home market is now at 33 after 11 straight months of decline. The current reading is only 3 points higher than in April 2020 when the onset of the pandemic triggered a 42-point plunge. NAHB’s chief economist Robert Dietz said it is “Elevated interest rates , stubbornly high building material costs and declining affordability conditions that are pushing more buyers to the sidelines (and) continue to drag down builder sentiment.” Derived from a monthly survey that NAHB has been conducting for more than 35 years, the NAHB/Wells Fargo HMI asks builders to describe their perceptions of current single-