Builder Confidence Down by Rebecca Radtke, LCMP  The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) released the results of the Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) showing that builder confidence for newly built single-family homes was 42 in February, marking a five-point decrease from January. "While builders hold out hope for pro-development policies, particularly for regulatory reform, policy uncertainty and cost factors created a reset for 2025 expectations in the most recent HMI," said NAHB Chairman Carl Harris, a custom home builder from Wichita, Kan. "Uncertainty on the tariff front helped push builders' expectations for future sales volume down to the lowest level since December 2023. Incentive use may also be weakening as a sales strategy as elevated interest rates reduce the pool of eligible home buyers." Further, this HMI shows that 26% of builders cut home prices in February which marks a dip from January when the market saw a 30% decrease and the lowest share since May 2024. Yet, the average price reduction was 5% in February which marked no change from the previous month. |
