WASHINGTON -- Favorable mortgage interest rates have helped boost home builders' assessments of current home sales, as well as their sales expectations for the next six months, according to the National
Association of Home Builders' newly released Housing Market Index (HMI).
The HMI, based on survey data for early March, rose for the second consecutive month with a two-point gain to 59.”Home builders continued to express confidence that low interest rates were helping offset effects of broader economic weakening and deteriorating consumer confidence to keep buyer demand on track,” said Bruce Smith, president of NAHB and a home builder from Walnut Creek, Calif. “It's also likely that the solid investment aspects of homeownership have buoyed housing demand as problems in
the stock market have deepened.”