Housing rebound? Homebuilder confidence reaches seven-year high.
| Washington
U.S. homebuilder confidence in the market for single family homes held steady at near seven year highs in January, suggesting the outlook for the housing market remained upbeat.
The NAHB/Wells Fargo聽Housing Market index was at 47 this month, the highest level since April 2006. Economists polled by Reuters had expected the index to edge up to 48.
The聽National聽Association聽of聽Home聽Builders聽said prolonged negotiations over fiscal policy had caused some uncertainty among聽builders聽this month.
A reading below 50 means more聽builders聽view market conditions as poor than favorable. The index has not been above 50 since April 2006.
"Conditions in the housing market look much better now than at the beginning聽of聽2012 and an increasing numberof聽housing markets are showing signs聽of聽recovery, which should bode well for future聽home聽sales later this year," said NAHB chairman Barry Rutenberg.
"Uncertainties stemming from last month's fiscal cliff negotiations contributed to the pause in builder confidence and continuing discussions among policymakers related to spending cuts and the future聽of聽the mortgage interest deduction could put a damper on housing demand in the coming months."
A measure聽of聽sales expectations in the next six months slipped a point to 49, while a gauge聽of聽current sales conditions was unchanged at 51. The prospective buyers index rose a point to 37. (Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
