Home builder confidence slips after hurricanes

Home builder confidence fell this month after two hurricanes hit Texas and Florida, creating anxiety over labor and the cost of materials.

The latest National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) index showed on Monday that the market for new single family homes dropped three points to 64 in September from 67 in August.

“The recent hurricanes have intensified our members’ concerns about the availability of labor and the cost of building materials,” said NAHB Chairman Granger MacDonald, a home builder and developer from Kerrville, Texas.

{mosads}”Once the rebuilding process is underway, I expect builder confidence will return to the high levels we saw this spring,” MacDonald said.

Overall, builders remain upbeat about the improvement of the housing market, which has struggled to achieve faster growth amid a lack of supply of homes for sale while demand grows.

“Despite this month’s drop, builder confidence is still on very firm ground,” said Robert Dietz, the NAHB’s chief economist.

“With ongoing job creation, economic growth and rising consumer confidence, we should see the housing market continue to recover at a gradual, steady pace throughout the rest of the year,” Dietz said.

All three index components posted losses in September but remain at healthy levels.

The component gauging current sales conditions fell 4 points, to 70, and the index charting sales expectations in the next six months dropped 4 points, to 74.

Meanwhile, the component measuring buyer traffic slipped a single point, to 47.

A level more than 50 indicates that more builders view conditions as good than poor.

Regionally, the West increased 3 points, to 77, and the Northeast rose 1 point, to 49.

The South fell a point, to 66, and the Midwest slipped 3 points, to 63.