The nation's homebuilders are pleased with the strong demand they're seeing this spring, but they continue to see buyers being held back by today's high home prices.
Sentiment has remained in the low 60s for the past three months. Anything above 50 is considered positive. Of the index's three components, current sales conditions increased 1 point to 69. Buyer traffic rose 3 points to 47 but is still in negative territory. Sales expectations over the next six months fell 1 point to 71.
Builders have offered incentives and stripped out some higher-end amenities to bring costs down for buyers, but prices are still very high in most major markets. While they might like to build more inexpensive homes, the high costs of finished lots and skilled labor continue to make that difficult.