Recent Updates
- Korea: Consumer Survey Index, Inflation Expectations (Apr)
- US: Housing Starts by State and Region (Mar)
- US: New Res Sales (Mar), S&P Case Shiller Home Price Indexes, FHFA HPI (Feb), Final Building Permits (Mar)
- US: Steel Imports (Mar-Prelim)
- US: Richmond Fed Mfg & Service Sector Surveys (Apr)
- US: Consumer Confidence (Apr)
- Belgium: Business Confidence (Apr)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. New Home Sales and Prices Strengthen
Sales of new single-family homes during March increased 4.0% (8.8% y/y) to 694,000 (SAAR)...
U.S. FHFA House Price Index Continues to Strengthen
The FHFA index of U.S. house prices rose 0.6% during February...
U.S. Energy Prices Rise Further
Retail gasoline prices increased to $2.80 per gallon last week (14.3% y/y)...
Italian Confidence Backtracks But Remains High-Valued As It Is for France and Germany
From Q1 2008 to date, Italian GDP actually has failed to grow and has declined by 5.8%...
U.S. Existing Home Sales & Prices Rise Again
The NAR reported that sales of existing homes increased 1.1% during March (-1.2% y/y) to 5.600 million units (AR)...
by Tom Moeller February 16, 2005
The National Association of Home Builders' (NAHB) Composite Housing Market Index fell again in February to 68 versus 70 in January.
Only the current sales of new single family homes component fell. The index components of prospective sales and the traffic of prospective buyers were stable.
During the last twenty years, annual changes in the composite index had an 83% correlation with the change in new home sales. There's been an 86% correlation with the change in single family housing starts.
The NAHB index is a diffusion index based on a survey of builders. Readings above 50 signal that more builders view conditions as good than poor.
Visit the National Association of Home Builders using this link.
| Nat'l Association of Home Builders | Feb | Jan | Feb '04 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Composite Housing Market Index | 68 | 70 | 66 | 68 | 64 | 61 |
