(Reuters) – The confidence of U.S. real estate professionals hit a 13-month high in July as dwindling inventories of goods continued to boost demand for new homes, the monthly survey showed on Tuesday. the NAHB federation.
Its confidence index rose this month from 55 to 56, the seventh consecutive month of growth. This figure is in line with the consensus expectations of economists polled by Reuters.
The component measuring the traffic of potential buyers, which stood at 40, also reached its highest level since June 2022, a sign of still solid demand despite a hike in interest rates by the United States Federal Reserve (Fed) of 500 basis points since March 2022.
The appetite for new housing is boosted by the reluctance of owners in the old to put their property on the market.
The improvement in the confidence of real estate professionals by a small point, however, marks a deceleration after two consecutive months of growth of five points, reflecting growing concerns about financing.
“While builders continue to remain cautiously optimistic about market conditions, the quarter-point rise in mortgage rates in real estate over the past month is a stark reminder of the stop-and-go process. the market will experience as the Federal Reserve nears the end of the current tightening cycle,” said NAHB chief economist Robert Dietz.
(Reporting Safiyah Riddle; Claude Chendjou, editing by Kate Entringer)
Copyright © 2023 Thomson Reuters
I have over 8 years of experience working in the news industry. I have worked as a reporter, editor, and now managing editor at 247 News Agency. I am responsible for the day-to-day operations of the news website and overseeing all of the content that is published. I also write a column for the website, covering mostly market news.
