The dog days of summer often soften the housing market's growth, but this summer's troubles appear to be more complex than the crises of years past. Although home prices and builder confidence are still rising, the national homeownership rate has dropped to an 18-year low, and the housing affordability rate – the percentage of homes sold that are affordable to a family on a median income – fell below 70 percent in the second quarter for the first time since 2008.

59 The homebuilder confidence index, which measures expectations for single-family home sales, added three points in August for a composite score of 59. The index has increased by 19 points since April and turned positive (50 or higher) in June.
Credit: National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo

53 NAHB's quarterly confidence index for builders in the 55+ housing sector leapt 24 points in Q2 2013 to a score of 53, the highest Q2 number since the index began in 2008 and the seventh consecutive quarter of year-over-year improvements.
Credit: NAHB

69.3% The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) showed that 69.3 percent of all homes sold during Q2 2013 were affordable to families earning the median national income of $64,400, down from 73.7 percent affordability in Q1. The HOI had not fallen below 70 percent since late 2008.
Credit: NAHB/Wells Fargo

247 The NAHB's index of improving housing markets shed eight metros in August, the index's second consecutive month of decline. The index has declined by 27 markets following a high-water mark in March, but the year-over-year trend remains unambiguously positive, improving to 247 total markets in August compared to just 80 in August 2012.
Credit: NAHB/First American

65.0% The national homeownership rate dipped 0.4 percent year-over-year to 65.0 percent in Q2 2013, and the seasonally adjusted percentage of homeowners fell to 65.1 percent, the lowest since 1995. The historical average for the 30 years prior to 1995 was 64.0 percent.
Credit: U.S. Census Bureau