Dive summary:

• The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), which uses a three-part measurement to gauge how builders are feeling about their near-term prospects had been rising for eight months through the end of last year, but its climb stalled out in January and has been going down since – standing at 44 in March.
• The association blamed the decline on growing pains in the recovery, including a lack of available lots because developers backed off, labor shortages because construction workers turned elsewhere and building materials are still not plentiful after pull-backs in manufacturing.
• NAHB also repeated its frequent criticism of too-tight lending for buyers and below-price appraisals as part of the reason the index is stuck in the below-50 pessimistic range.

From the article:

"The road to a housing recovery will be a bumpy one until these issues are addressed, but in the meantime, builders are much more optimistic today than they were at this time last year." : NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe.