Home builder confidence up

Home builders are bullish on the housing market.

Builder confidence in new, single-family homes in July reached 60, according to the National Association of Home Builders /Wells Fargo Housing Market Index, which was released recently.

At the same time, June’s index was upgraded one point to 60. The last time the housing market index reached that level was November 2005, several years before the recession hit.

The index determines builder’s opinion of the market and their sales expectations as “good,” fair” or “poor.” Builders are also asked to rate traffic of prospective buyers as “high to very high,” “average” or “low to very low.”

Fifty or above means more builders view market conditions as good than poor.

“The fact that builder confidence has returned to levels not seen since 2005 shows that housing continues to improve at a steady pace,” said Tom Woods, association chairman, in a statement. “As we head into the second half of 2015, we should expect a continued recovery of the housing market.”