Builder sentiment about single-family construction went up two points in December for a third consecutive monthly gain, the National Association of Home Builders said Monday.
The measure, formally known as the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), stood at 21 this month and has gone up for three months now. Anything below 50 is poor, but 21 is the best result since May 2010, NAHB said.
Professional Builder magazine said it had found similar optimism among home-building contractors it surveyed.
“While builder confidence remains low, the consistent gains registered over the past several months are an indication that pockets of recovery are slowly starting to emerge in scattered housing markets,” said Bob Nielsen, NAHB chairman.
NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe said the index, which has been kept for two decades, had not gone up three months in a row since mid-2009.
The organization reported that the biggest gain in builder confidence was in the South in December, where a four-point gain to 25 brought the region’s score to its best level since March of 2008. The West had a one-point gain to 16, the Midwest was steady at 24, and the Northeast dropped one point to 15.
