NAHB and Wells Fargo have conducted the surveyrnfor over 20 years.  It measures NAHB members’rnconfidence in the new home market through their responses to threernquestions.  The first measures builderrnperceptions of current single-family sales as “good”, “fair”, or “poor” and,rnusing the same scale, their expectations of sales over the next threernmonths.  The third question asks buildersrnto rate the traffic of prospective buyers as “high to very high”, “average” or “lowrnto very low”.  Responses to all three questionsrnare used to construct the composite index. rnAn index total over 50 indicates the more builders have a positive viewrnof market conditions than have a negative view.</p

The index measuring current salesrnconditions also rose three points to 20, while the index gauging future salesrnexpectations increased two points to 25 and the component measuring traffic wasrnup one point to 15.  All three componentsrnare at the highest levels since the spring of 2010.</p

On a regional basis the Northeastrnregistered a three-point gain to 17; the Midwest was up 8 points to 23, and thernSouth improved 2 points to 21.  The West,rnwhich had increased substantially in October, plunged six points to 15 inrnNovember. </p

“While this second solid monthlyrngain on the builder confidence scale is encouraging, the overall measurernremains quite low due to the many challenges that home building continues tornface with regard to the high number of foreclosures, the difficulties ofrnobtaining construction financing and accurate appraisals, and the restrictivernlending environment that is discouraging potential buyers,” said BobrnNielsen, NAHB Chairman.  “Thesernproblems must be addressed so that housing can contribute to economic and jobrngrowth the way it has in the past.”

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