Housing Market Index Continues to Paint a Gloomy Picture
The Housing Market Index (HMI) of the National Association of Home Builders held at the record low level of 19 in November, matching the October reading. The HMI advanced seven months (see chart 1) has a strong positive correlation with sales of single-family homes (62%). This relationship suggests that sales of new single-family are most likely to post declines for a few more months.
Although the index tracking traffic of prospective buyers rose to 17 during November from 15 in October, it remains close to the record low. The index measuring sales of single-family six months ahead dropped to 25, the lowest on record.
