The US housing market, upon which the health of the pool and spa market is largely dependent, is showing signs of improvement in the last quarter of 2012, according to statements and surveys from the National Association of Home Builders.
Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes posted a solid, five-point gain to 46 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) for November. This marks the seventh consecutive monthly gain in the confidence gauge and brings it to its highest point since May of 2006.
“Builders are reporting increasing demand for new homes as inventories of foreclosed and distressed properties begin to shrink in markets across the country,” said NAHB Chairman Barry Rutenberg, a home builder from Gainesville, Fla. “In view of the tightening supply and other improving conditions, many potential buyers who were on the fence are now motivated to move forward with a purchase in order to take advantage of today’s favorable prices and interest rates.”
“While our confidence gauge has yet to breach the 50 mark — at which point an equal number of builders view sales conditions as good versus poor — we have certainly made substantial progress since this time last year, when the HMI stood at 19,” observed NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. “At this point, difficult appraisals and tight lending conditions for builders and buyers remain limiting factors for the burgeoning housing recovery, along with shortages of buildable lots that have begun popping up in certain markets.”
Following on this improvement in builder confidence, the NAHB reports the number of housing markets considered “improving,” surged by 76 to a total of 201 metro areas in December, according to the HMI. This home building index identifies metropolitan areas that have shown improvement from their respective troughs in housing permits, employment and house prices for at least six consecutive months.
A total of 84 new metro areas were added to the list and eight were dropped from it this month. Newly added metros include such geographically diverse locations as Atlanta, Ga.; Bloomington, Ill.; Ann Arbor, Mich.; Seattle, Wash.; and Green Bay, Wis.
“The big gain in improving markets this December indicates that key measures of housing and economic strength have now been holding steady or improving in metros across the country for six months or more, which is an important signal of stability amidst the slowly emerging recovery,” said NAHB Chairman Barry Rutenberg, a home builder from Gainesville, Fla. “The main thing that’s limiting the progress we’re seeing right now is the difficulty that potential buyers continue to experience with regard to overly tight mortgage qualifying standards.”
