by Calculated Risk on 10/18/2010 10:00:00 AM

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reports the housing market index (HMI) was at 16 in October. This is a 3 point increase from 13 in September, and is the highest level since June. The record low was 8 set in January 2009, and 16 is still very low ...

Note: any number under 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as poor than good.

Click on graph for larger image in new window.

This graph compares the NAHB HMI (left scale) with single family housing starts (right scale). This includes the October release for the HMI and the August data for starts (September starts will be released tomorrow).

This shows that the HMI and single family starts mostly move in the same direction - although there is plenty of noise month-to-month.

Press release from the NAHB: Builder Confidence Improves in October

Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes rose three points to 16 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) for October, released today. This was the first improvement registered by the HMI in five months, and returns the index to a level last seen in June of this year.
...
All three of the HMI's component indexes registered gains in October. The index gauging current sales conditions rose three points to16, while the index gauging sales expectations in the next six months rose five points to 23 and the index gauging traffic of prospective buyers rose two points to 11.