Builder Confidence at Record High in 4th Quarter for 55+
Chicago, IL (PRWEB) February 05, 2014 -- CF Funding is happy to share the latest news from the 55+ Housing Market Index, released today by the National Association of Home Builders. The fourth quarter of 2013 resulted in record high builder confidence, showing strong increases from the fourth quarter of 2012.
According to a press release from the NAHB on February 3rd, “The single-family index increased 20 points to a level of 48, which is the highest fourth-quarter reading since the inception of the index in 2008 and the ninth consecutive quarter of year over year improvements.” CF Funding hopes to see builder confidence in the 55+ market continue to climb to a level over 50, where more builders than not will feel confident in the housing market.
As the CF Funding News Feed has shown, builder confidence as a whole has shown improvements over the past year and now stands at a score of 56. In January the score fell by 1 point, however CF Funding expects builder confidence to rise this year as housing market conditions improve.
Two segments of the housing market are measured in the 55+ HMI: single-family homes and multi-family condominiums. Three factors are questioned in the survey to calculate a score: present sales, expected sales, and traffic of prospective buyers—all of which have increased over the past year. Single-family homes reported strong increases in the HMI, with present sales and expected sales above 50 points: present sales rose 26 points to a score of 53, and expected sales rose 24 points to a score of 62. This is great news for the housing market!
It is expected that the 55+ HMI would not recover as quickly as the overall HMI, considering that “The 55+ segment of the housing market contains more discretionary purchases,” according to NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. Although the gains in the 55+ HMI are not as great as the overall HMI, the year-over-year trends are similar, and the NAHB expects numbers to continue to rise.
The last press release on the 55+ HMI was in November 2013, where CF Funding saw the single-family index increase 14 points to a score of 50. Although the score has decreased by 2 points in the 4th quarter of 2013, year-over-year increases are strong.
CF Funding will keep you updated on the state of the 55+ Housing Market as this information is released. Stay up-to-date on mortgage industry news by following CF Funding.
Giorgio U Ferrero, CF Funding, +1 (847) 338-6062, [email protected]
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