The confidence among our home builders slid this month to the lowest level since August, dragged down by
An index of the housing market conditions of the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo fell in March with 3 points to 39. That was weaker than all estimates in a Bloomberg research among economists.
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Measures of the current sale of single -family homes and potential copper traffic fell to their lowest levels since the end of 2023. Meanwhile, a measure of expectations for the coming six months at 47.
“Builders continue to be confronted with increased costs for building materials that are exacerbated by tariff issues, as well as other challenges on the supply side, including labor and lotting shortages,” said NAHB chairman Buddy Hughes, a builder and developer from Lexington, North Carolina.
The mood among the contractors has grown more after some exuberance of the elections of President Donald Trump, who had reflected his promises to lower the regulations and to support faster growth in the economy.
Instead, rates are in danger of stimulating the costs of building materials, in particular wood, which increases the risk that house prices will be increased. In one positive development,
The March study showed that builders see the rates that may increase prices by $ 9,200 per house, according to Robert Dietz, the most important economist of the group.
This month, 29% of the builders reported reduction prices, an increase of 26% in February, according to the NAHB survey. The average price reduction remained at 5%, and the share that reported that the use of sales stimuli also kept 59%.
The builder’s confidence fell in all four American regions, including in the West, where it has fallen to the lowest level since December 2023.