Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes held at a record low reading of 9 in December as deepening economic turmoil, a deteriorating job market, and an ongoing flow of foreclosed homes onto the market continued to negatively impact sales conditions, according to the most recent National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). The index gauges builder perceptions of current single-family home sales and sales expectations for the next six months as "good," "fair," or "poor," where any number over 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as good than poor. The index gauging current sales conditions and the index gauging sales expectations for the next six months each declined to new record lows, falling one point to 8 and two points to 16, respectively, according to the report. The index gauging traffic of prospective buyers held at a record low of 7 for the month.
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From Wednesday, December 17, 2008 C.A.R. Newsline

Reprinted with permission of the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®