Homebuilder Sentiment Beats by Wide Margin
Tuesday, July 17, 2012 at 11:41AM Today's release of the NAHB Housing Market Index took a backseat to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony that began at 10 AM ET this morning, but it should not be overlooked given its strength. Today's homebuilder sentiment reading came in at 35, which was the highest level seen since March 2007. As shown below, a reading of 35 is still well below the historical average of 47, but it is up significantly from the extremely low readings seen from 2008 through 2011.
The reading also came in 5 points ahead of expectations (35 vs. 30). This was the strongest beat since the February 2007 reading which was 5 points better than expected as well. Clearly something positive is going on in the housing market right now, and yet it still has a long way to go.
