Housing Index Posts Biggest Jump in Five Year

"Housing Index Posts Biggest Jump in Five Year"
Friday, April 17, 2009 at 11:42am

An index that gauges builder confidence in new single-family homes rose five points in April according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).

The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index is derived from a monthly survey of builders that asks builders to rate their perceptions of current market conditions and sales expectations in the next six months as "good," "fair" or "poor," and to rate traffic of prospective buyers as "high to very high," "average" or "low to very low."

The NAHB reported that this gain was the largest one-month increase recorded since May of 2003. The highest increase was in the index segment that gauges single-family sales expectations in the next six months, which rose 10 points from last month.

Many agree that low home prices, tax credits and low mortgage rates are the main contributing factors to this jump.The improved industry outlook even gave housing stocks a bit of a boost.

The Associated Press reported that shares of Lennar and Beazer Homes got the biggest lifts, climbing more than 13 percent in the afternoon trading on April 15th.

Sources: NAHB & AP