The National Association of Home Builders' Housing Market Index (HMI) stood at 64 in Mach, unchanged from February, according to a recent report. The HMI is derived from a monthly survey of builders that NAHB has been conducting for the last 19 years. Homebuilders are asked to rate current sales of single-family homes as "good," "fair," or "poor," where any number over 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as good than poor.
"The tremendous pace of home sales in last year's final months has apparently given way to a more sustainable level of activity in early 2004," said NAHB President Bobby Rayburn. "This climate of stability is a positive sign heading into the spring homebuying season."
Two out of three of the HMI's component indexes slipped in March. The index gauging current sales of new single-family homes fell two points to 69, while the index gauging sales expectations for the next six months declined three points to 70. The index gauging traffic of prospective buyers rose two points to 48, indicating some slight improvement in the flow of visitors to model homes over the last month, according to the report.