The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index increased to 80 in October.
“Although demand and home sales remain strong, builders continue to grapple with ongoing supply chain disruptions and labor shortages that are delaying completion times and putting upward pressure on building material and home prices,” said NAHB Chairman Chuck Fowke.
“Builders are getting increasingly concerned about affordability hurdles ahead for most buyers,” said NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz. “Building material price increases and bottlenecks persist and interest rates are expected to rise in coming months as the Fed begins to taper its purchase of U.S. Treasuries and mortgage-backed debt. Policymakers must focus on fixing the broken supply chain. This will spur more construction and help ease upward pressure on home prices.”
The HMI component measuring buyer traffic increased four points to 65. The component measuring current sales conditions rose five points to 87, and the component measuring sales expectations in the next sixth months rose three points to 84.
Looking at the three-month moving averages for regional HMI scores, the Midwest rose one point to 69, the Northeast remained unchanged at 72, and the South and West were unchanged at 80 and 83, respectively.
Read the NAHB release.
