The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) recently reported that despite the total job openings across all industries dipping, the number of open jobs for the aggregate economy has remained relatively unchanged. This comes as housing starts in the Western U.S. are down in February, when the data was last released, with a cool 314,000, or 27,000 down from January.

 

Amid a lack of inventory driving buyers into the new home construction market, high demand, and lower mortgage rates, NAHB builder confidence climbed three points in March to 51, marking a crossover to a positive reading. This reading is the highest level since July 2023 and the first time that it has surpassed the positive point since last July.

In the West, the regional Housing Market Index (HMI), saw an uptick with a reading of 36, meanwhile, last March and a preliminary reading in March 2024 of 45. Conversely, looking at the three-month moving averages for regional HMI scores, the West marked a five-point gain to 43.