Dive Brief:
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The holiday spirit hasn’t done much to improve the mood among homebuilders, whose confidence dipped slightly between November and December, the National Association of Homebuilders reported Monday.
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Still, NAHB Chairman Kevin Kelly said the organization stands by its prediction that the housing market will continue to improve next year.
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Homebuilder confidence rose between October and November, the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index showed, after reaching its highest level since 2005 in September.
Dive Insight:
The decline in homebuilder optimism this month was very slight—one point, to a reading of 57. Readings higher than 50 indicate that more builders than not believe the short-term outlook for home sales is good.
NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe said that despite the slight dip, the reading reflects a housing market that is slowly recovering. He added that he expects the housing recovery to continue at a similar, gradual place in 2015.