Dive Brief:

• The December monthly survey of how builders think business is going now and will go six months out was higher than November, and well into the above-50 positive territory.
• Officially, the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) asks builders to rate current conditions and what they expect on a poor-fair-good scale, requiring them to gauge the traffic of prospective buyers on a similar, three-point scale.
• The NAHB attributed the December increase to home buyers getting back into the market after holding off on their searches while no one knew the length or effect of October's government shutdown.

Dive Insight:

David Crowe, the organization's chief economist, said he does not think that increases in mortgage interest this year have deterred buyers. NAHB has been pushing the message that even with rates up a point, they are still low by historic standards. In this month's release of the 25-year-old index, NAHB did not take the opportunity to attack too-strict lending standards, which have been blamed before for hindering the recovery.