U.S. Homebuilders Gauge at Five-Month High Shows Storm Recovery
Workers nail in wall studs to a stairway inside a home under construction at the M/I Homes Inc. Bougainvillea Place housing development in Ellenton, Florida, U.S., on Thursday, July 6, 2017. The U.S. Census Bureau is scheduled to release housing starts figures on July 19.
Photographer: Ty Wright/BloombergA rebound in homebuilders’ confidence to a five-month high indicates concern over fallout from major hurricanes has been alleviated, according to data Tuesday from the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo.
The report suggests the housing market is on track to return to its pre-storm state, marked by steady demand and rising prices that are nevertheless putting purchases out of reach for some first-time buyers. Developers will probably get a boost from recovery efforts in the coming months as rebuilding efforts intensify in Texas and Florida, where many homes were flooded or destroyed. At the same time, the continued strength of the U.S. job market and still-low mortgage rates point to underlying support for residential real estate.