Builder confidence in the new single-family housing market was unchanged in November from a downwardly revised level of 54 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), marking the sixth consecutive month that more builders have viewed market conditions as good than poor.

Derived from a monthly survey that NAHB has been conducting for 25 years, the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index gauges builder perceptions of current single-family home sales, sales expectations for the next six months and the traffic of prospective buyers. Scores from each component are used to calculate the seasonally adjusted index, where any number over 50 indicates a positive outlook.

"Policy and economic uncertainty is undermining consumer confidence," said NAHB chief economist David Crowe. "The fact that builder confidence remains above 50 is an encouraging sign, considering the unresolved debt and federal budget issues cause builders and consumers to remain on the sideline."

The HMI index gauging current sales conditions in November held steady at 58. The component measuring expectations for future sales fell one point to 60 and the component gauging traffic of prospective buyers dropped one point to 42.

"Given the current interest rate and pricing environment, consumers continue to show interest in purchasing new homes, but are holding back because Congress keeps pushing critical decisions on budget, tax and government spending issues down the road," said NAHB chairman Rick Judson. "Meanwhile, builders continue to face challenges related to rising construction costs and low appraisals."

HMI tables can be found at nahb.org/hmi.