U.S. builder confidence for new single-family homes in March fell 2 points from February to 82 points on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). The HMI component measuring current sales conditions dropped 3 points from February to 87 but sales expectations for the next six months grew 3 points to 83 in March. The component measuring prospective buyer traffic remained steady in March at 72.
Derived from a monthly NAHB survey, the HMI gauges builder perceptions of current single-family home sales and sales expectations for the next six months. Scores from each component are then used to calculate a seasonally adjusted index where any number over 50 indicates that more builders view conditions as good rather than poor. See NAHB