Today's Housing Bubble Post - Builder Confidence Falls

-- by Dave Johnson

Home builders' confidence falls in December,

U.S. home builders were a bit more pessimistic about the housing market in December, but they're growing more hopeful that home sales could perk up in six months, the National Association of Home Builders reported Monday.
... Economists had expected the index, which measures builder sentiment, to improve to 34 in December, according to a poll conducted by MarketWatch.
A reading of 50 shows that half the builders surveyed think the market is good and half think it's poor.
The index had fallen to a decade-low of 30 in September, the sharpest decline in the index's 20-year history. The index stood at 57 a year ago and peaked at 72 in June 2005.

The recent slowdown in the housing market shouldn't scare off investors in Home Depot.
...While the tough environment is projected to slow Home Depot's sales growth to 2.8% this year, following a five-year run that saw the company average 11% growth, Trott points to a growing supply business and promising opportunities in China as big reasons for optimism.

Posted by Dave Johnson at December 18, 2006 11:02 AM