NAHB housing market index ticks up as expected

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo housing market index nudged up two points to 60 from a downwardly-revised July reading, in line with economists’ expectations.

The component gauging current sales conditions added two points to 65, while the index charting sales expectations in the next six months was up one point to 67.

Finally, the component measuring buyer traffic slipped one point to 44.

Pantheon Macroeconomics said: “With the exception of a brief spike last fall, when activity rose ahead of the introduction of tougher loan disclosure rules, the NAHB index has been flat over the past year.

"This is hard to square with the rising trend in mortgage applications and home sales, suggesting that homebuilders are not yet convinced of the sustainability of the upturn. We think it will last, so we scope for the NAHB index to rise over the next few months.”