Home builders still bullish on the market

Builders’ confidence in the single-family home market was essentially unchanged this month, rising only one point.

Still, the 61 ranking is the highest reading since November 2005, according to data released Monday by the National Association of Home Builders, a trade association in Washington, D.C.

Builder confidence is on a solid path, having ranked in the low 60s for the past three months, said Tom Woods, the association’s chairman.

“[That] shows that single-family housing is making slow but steady progress,” Woods said in a statement. “However, we continue to hear that builders face difficulty accessing land and labor.”

The association has been conducting its monthly survey, now called the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Index, for three decades. It measures builder perception of the single-family housing market during the next six months as “good,” “fair” or “poor.

Builders also rate the potential for prospective home buyers as “high to very high,” “average” or “low to very low,” according to the statement.