The National Association of Home Builders released the results of a survey they conducted at the beginning of January indicating that homebuilder sentiment has unexpectedly jumped to its highest level in four and a half years, suggesting the housing market may be starting to heal.
The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market index rose from 21 in December to 25 in January (a mark of 50 is when the market is fully recovered) which is the highest level since June 2007 when the housing market was crumbling. After remaining stagnate for nearly a year the index has been slowly improving since October 2011 bolstering the industry's optimism that the housing market has found a bottom and may be on a climb back up.
David Crowe, chief economist at NAHB, said in the statement, "Builders are seeing greater interest among potential buyers as employment and consumer confidence slowly improve in a growing number of markets, and this has helped to move the confidence gauge up from near-historic lows in the first half of 2011."