The National Association of Home Builders’ index for November came in at 63, which matched the median forecast among economists.
MarketWatch reports that indexes measuring current sales conditions and sales expectations over the next six months each scored 69 in November. The index of buyer traffic was only 47. Any score above 50 indicates improvement.
As the housing recovery grinds on, many economists have noted that strong readings from NAHB’s survey aren’t translating into robust home building activity. Over the past year, builders have broken ground on an average of 1.15 million homes per month, 25% lower than the average in the last five years of the 1990s.