Home Builders' Confidence Rises
August 15 2016 - 10:00AM
Dow Jones News
U.S. home builders said they are becoming more optimistic about
the market for single-family homes, boosting hopes that a recent
rise in home buying could lead to more construction.
A measure of home builder confidence rose two points from a
month earlier to 60 in August, matching the second-highest level of
the year, the National Association of Home Builders, a trade group,
said Monday. The reading matched the expectation of economists
surveyed by The Wall Street Journal.
Economists track the index because when builders gain
confidence, they are more likely to begin projects. Higher
construction creates jobs, in turn lifting the economy to stronger
growth.
Sentiment among home builders has been choppy this year, and the
index is lower than it was from a year earlier. But builders remain
optimistic overall despite a slowdown in economic growth in the
first half of the year.
"Builder confidence remains solid in the aftermath of weak GDP
reports that were offset by positive job growth in July," the
NAHB's chief economist, Robert Dietz, said in a statement.
"Historically low mortgage rates, increased household formations
and a firming labor market will help keep housing on an upward path
during the rest of the year."
Monday's report showed a measure of builders' views about the
present market rose two points to 65 this month. An index of their
outlook for the market over the next six months rose a single point
to 67. A third component, measuring traffic of prospective buyers,
fell a point to 44.
The housing market has picked up this year. Sales of previously
owned homes, the bulk of the market, rose to their highest level in
more than nine years in July, according to the National Association
of Realtors.
But home construction has stalled. Housing starts, or the units
that builders broke ground on, fell 2% in the year through June,
Commerce Department data show. The agency is set to release July
figures Tuesday. Home builders have said that regulations and
shortages of land and labor are preventing a stronger recovery in
home construction.
News Corp, owner of The Wall Street Journal, also owns Move
Inc., which operates a website and mobile products for the National
Association of Realtors.
Write to Josh Mitchell at joshua.mitchell@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 15, 2016 10:45 ET (14:45 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
News (NASDAQ:NWSA)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2024 to May 2024
News (NASDAQ:NWSA)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2023 to May 2024