Feb 15 (Reuters) – Confidence among U.S. single-family homebuilders improved for a second straight month in February – and by much more than economists had anticipated – in a fresh signal the housing market was turning a corner after last year’s huge slump.
The National Association of Home Builders on Wednesday said its NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market index rose seven points to 42 this month, notching the largest monthly gain in nearly a decade outside of the rebound from the spring 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns.
The reading – the highest since September – was also higher than all 33 projections in a Reuters survey of economists, which had a median estimate of 37. A reading below 50 indicates that more builders view conditions as poor rather than good.
The improvement this month builds on January’s reading, which had snapped a record-long string of 12 consecutive monthly declines in construction firms’ sentiment that had coincided with the biggest annual drop in sales of new homes in 2022 since 2008, a plunge of more than 26%.
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