Business View Magazine May 2023

15 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 5 BUILDER CONFIDENCE IN MILD UPTICK Source, wrenews.com, Phil Hall, First published April 17, 2023 Home builders gave the mildest thumbs up to their industry this month. Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes inched up by a single point this month in the latest Housing Market Index (HMI) report from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC). The HMI survey showed the percentage of builders reducing home prices continued trending down, as 30% said they reduced prices in April – that share was 31% in March and February, 35% in December and 36% in November. The average price reduction in April was 6%, the same as in February and March but lower than December’s 8%. And the share of builders using incentives to bolster sales was 59% in April – inching up from 57% in February to 58% in March but still lower than last December’s 62%. “For the fourth straight month, builder confidence has increased due to a lack of resale inventory despite elevated interest rates,” said NAHB Chairman Alicia Huey, a custom home builder and developer from Birmingham, Alabama. “Builders note that additional declines in mortgage rates, to below 6%, will price-in further demand for