Today, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) released their latest Housing Market Index (HMI) showing a continued pullback for all measures as home builders downwardly adjusted their outlook in the wake of the home "buyer" tax credit expiration.It's important to recognize that currently each sentiment index shows notable year-over-year declines with each still sitting near the lowest levels seen in over 20 years, a testament to the significance of the latest pullback.
Further, the "buyer traffic" index is showing the weakest results pulling back some 23% since July of 2009 and sitting just 3 points above the lowest level ever recorded.
The new home market will likely not resume any significant form of healthy function until the considerable overhang of inventory is cleared.
