The nation's home builders expect the housing market to remain strong as a growing economy helps offset the impact of slowly rising mortgage interest rates, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). While all three components of the index fell slightly in January, they remained near the peak levels of 2004.
In January, the seasonally adjusted HMI fell one point to 70, and the HMI component gauging current single-family sales also declined one point to 77. The remaining two components of the index, sales prospects for the next six months and buyer traffic, both decreased two points, ending at 78 and 50, respectively. Regionally, home builders in the West remain the most confident, with an overall seasonally adjusted HMI of 81.
Posted by gandlwoods at January 25, 2005 09:59 AM