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Economy in Brief
U.S. Pending Home Sales Plunge to Record Low
Pending home sales fell 21.8% in April...
U.S. GDP Decline in Q1'20 is Deepened; Corporate Profits Plunge
Revised GDP figures continue to show sharp falloff in activity...
Kansas City Fed Factory Remains Negative, but Deterioration Moderates
Midwest economic activity continues to decline...
State & Pandemic Assistance Initial Claims Total 46.7 Million in Last Ten Weeks
Initial jobless claims decreased to a still extremely-elevated 2.123 million in the week ending May 23...
Italian Confidence Erodes
Italy's consumer and business indexes plunge in May...
by Tom Moeller April 22, 2005
The National Association of Home Builders' (NAHB) Composite Housing Market Index fell to 67 in April versus an upwardly revised 70 in March. The index has fallen in three out of last four months.
All of the index components fell from March's level. The index of current sales is off 6.2% from the December high and the index of prospective sales is down 5%.
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.
Traffic of prospective home buyers has been roughly steady at a high level for over a year.
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 | April | Mar | April '04 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Composite Housing Market Index | 67 | 70 | 69 | 68 | 64 | 61 |
