One bright light is the Housing Market Index – HMI report.

Every month, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Wells Fargo survey NAHB members for their Housing Market Index (HMI) report.

This survey gives a sense of the single-family-home environment and looks at three components. Current home sales, Home sales over the next six months and traffic of prospective buyers. This is measured on a 0-100 scale.

February’s score was 48 up from 44 in January and 42 the year prior. This is the highest rate since August 2023.

Building permits hit a seasonally adjusted annual rate up 8.6% year over year.

With the anticipation of Fed rates dropping this summer, the builders have taken notice and appear to be maintaining their positive outlook.