Home builder confidence up in August

A confidence index among home builders inched up in August to its highest level in a year.

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index reached 18 this month, which was its highest since June 2008, said a news release.

“Home builder expectations have been buoyed by the success of the first-time home buyer tax credit and its anticipated boost to buying activity leading up to the Nov. 30 expiration date,” said NAHB Chairman Joe Robson, a home builder from Tulsa, Okla.

“The question is what happens after that – whether there will be enough momentum to keep us moving toward a recovery, particularly in light of significant headwinds such as the severe credit crunch for housing production loans and inappropriate appraisal practices that are scuttling a quarter of all new-home sales.”

Sales expectations for the next six months saw the biggest gain in the index, followed by traffic of prospective buyers – four-point and three-point increases, respectively. Current sales conditions in the index remained unchanged.

All regions of the country saw a gain in the confidence index except for the South, which had a one-point decline.