Builder confidence in the housing market for newly built, single-family homes rose one point in August to its highest level in more than a year. Building on a two-point gain in July, the HMI reached 18 this month, its highest point since June of 2008, the August Housing Market Index (HMI) issued each month by the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo, rose for the second time in as many months to 18, the highest score since June, 2008.
This is good news for the housing market overall, including manufactured home builders. NAHB Chairman Joe Robson said, “Home builder expectations have been buoyed by the success of the first-time home buyer tax credit and its anticipated boost to buying activity leading up to the Nov. 30 expiration date. The question is what happens after that – whether there will be enough momentum to keep us moving toward a recovery, particularly in light of significant headwinds such as the severe credit crunch for housing production loans and inappropriate appraisal practices that are scuttling a quarter of all new-home sales. Unless Congress and the Administration focus their attention on housing right now, this improvement may well be short-lived,” he said.
