Homebuilder sentiment June 2025 nears pandemic low
Key Points
Builder sentiment in June dropped 2 points from May to 32 on the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). Anything below 50 is considered negative.
Analysts had been expecting a slight improvement, given recent tariff negotiations and pullbacks by the Trump administration.
This index has only seen a lower reading than June’s level twice since 2012.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/17/homebuilder-sentiment-june-2025.htmlOpen linkView original on lemmy.world
Not surprising, given:
The housing market cycle peaked in 2022, has been slowly trending down since, and the pace of decline is picking up. Inventory is way up and prices are down.
Tariffs have greatly increased the cost of inputs used in making homes, increasing the price of lumber, steel, copper, appliances, etc., etc.
Deportation of the labor force greatly increases the cost of labor to build the homes. After agriculture, the largest industry using immigrant labor is construction. Kicking a major portion of the construction labor force out of the country is guaranteed to drive up the price of the labor that remains.
If only interest rates could drop to the same levels…