The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Housing Market Index (HMI) is a gauge of builder opinion on the relative level of current and future single-family home sales. It is a diffusion index, which means that a reading above 50 indicates a favorable outlook on home sales; below 50 indicates a negative outlook.
The latest reading of 58, unchanged from the previous three months, was below the Investing.com forecast of 59.
Here is the opening of Monday morning's monthly report:
Builder confidence in the market for newly-built single-family homes remained unchanged in May at a level of 58 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI).
"Builder confidence has held steady at 58 for four straight months, which indicates that the single-family housing sector remains in positive territory," said NAHB Chairman Ed Brady, a home builder and developer from Bloomington, Ill. "However, builders are facing an increasing number of regulations and lot supply constraints." [link to report]
Here is the historical series, which dates from 1985.
The HMI correlates fairly closely with broad measures of consumer confidence. Here is a pair of overlays with the Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index and the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index.
The HMI is an interesting prelude to Tuesday's release of Building Permits and Housing Starts.