NAHB housing market index unexpectedly drops in February
Sentiment among US housebuilders unexpectedly deteriorated in February, according to data released on Wednesday.
The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo housing market index fell two points to 65, missing economists’ expectations for a nudge up to 68.
The component gauging current sales conditions dropped one point to 71, while the index for sales expectations declined three points to 73 and the one for buyer traffic declined five points to 46.
Pantheon Macroeconomics said: “After jumping by six points immediately after the election, the headline index has now dropped by a total of four points over the past two months. We are not hugely surprised; the spike in sentiment was not matched by the mortgage applications numbers, and we note that the buyer traffic sub-index has now given up all its post-election gain, returning to its October level.
“The housing market is now struggling against the headwind of significantly higher mortgage rates, though we hope that stronger payroll growth will increase the pool of prospective buyers. Still, the housing market is not going to be driving the overall economy this year.”