Good news for custom home builders! Builder confidence has risen five points this May, for the strongest reading since May of 2007. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) records that builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes have reached a level of 29. This is up from a downwardly revised reading in the previous month.

Derived from a monthly survey the NAHB has conducted for 25 years now, the HMI records builder perceptions of sales expectations. Gauged for the next sixth months, they’re rated “good”, “fair”, or “poor”. The survey also asks builders to rate the traffic of prospective buyers as “high to very high”, “average”, or “low to very low”. Scores are then collectively calculated for a seasonally adjusted index.

For May, the sales conditions and prospective buyers have risen to 30 and 23, respectively. The traffic component has hit its highest level since April of 2007. The section for sales expectations rose three points to 34. Both have rebounded from declines in April. The Northeast recorded a six point gain to 32, the Midwest five points to 27, and South five points to 28. The West posted a two point decline to 29.

Barry Rutenber, chairman of the NAHB and a home builder from Gainesville, Florida notes that, “Builders in many markets are reporting that buyer traffic and sales have picked back up after a pause this April. It seems we have resumed the gradual upward trend in confidence that started at the beginning of this year, as stabilizing prices and excellent affordability encourage more people to pursue a new-home purchase.” Read the whole article here.

The market is still competitive, but with more people interested in buying new homes, the better the custom home market will do. Which is certainly good news! Have you seen an improvement in your single-family homes? What have you been doing to gain attention and drive interest in this slowly improving market? Along with your listing here on Custom Builders, we can provide SEO and website design to help you turn those prospective buyers into happy homeowners. We also create mobile sites, a new function of home shopping that’s increasingly important in this perspective market. Builder Designs doesn’t merely create websites: we create sale opportunities. Consider the effort and cost you’d pour into a model home if you were promised all 9 out of every 10 buyers coming to see it for their new custom home! Your internet presence is an important part of your overall marketing scheme, and we’d love to help.