WASHINGTON, September 18 — Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes fell three points to 32 in September, according to the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index released on September 16 by the National Association of Home Builders. That is the lowest reading since September 2025. The index is compiled from a monthly survey NAHB has run for more than 40 years.
Builders rate current single-family sales and sales expectations for the next six months as “good,” “fair” or “poor,” and rate traffic of prospective buyers as “high to very high,” “average” or “low to very low.” A seasonally adjusted score above 50 means more builders view conditions as good than poor. At 32, the reading sits well below that line.
What builders are saying
NAHB Chairman Bill Owens, a home builder and remodeler from Worthington, Ohio, said buyer traffic has weakened across much of the country, largely because of rising mortgage rates. He added that builders continue to face higher material costs, rising gas and diesel prices and persistent labor shortages. In some markets, Owens said, builders report increased immigration enforcement is discouraging legal workers from reporting to job sites.
NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz pointed to tight lending conditions and elevated land, labor and construction costs as persistent constraints. The components moved in different directions.
The index measuring current sales conditions fell four points to 35. The gauge of future sales expectations dropped six points to 37. Prospective buyer traffic held steady at 23.
Price cuts and incentives
Builders are adjusting on price. The September survey found 38% of builders cut prices, up from 35% in August. The average price cut remained at 6% for the sixth consecutive month.
Meanwhile, 66% of builders reported using sales incentives, up from 63% in August and the highest share since 67% posted in December. On the supply side, 42% of builders rated current lot availability as poor and 38% as fair.
Regional three-month moving averages were mixed. The Midwest dropped one point to 44, the Northeast fell five points to 39, the South fell one point to 31 and the West posted a one-point gain to 28. For Indian and wider Asian investors, the read-across is indirect but not negligible.
US housing starts feed demand for lumber, copper, aluminium and steel, and a sustained slump in single-family construction tends to soften commodity prices that matter to Asian producers and exporters. Indian building-materials and plywood exporters with US exposure will watch the incentive and price-cut trend closely, since heavier discounting by US builders usually signals softer near-term order books.
What to watch next is whether mortgage rates ease enough to lift buyer traffic off its 23 reading, and whether the share of builders cutting prices keeps climbing from 38%. NAHB publishes the HMI monthly; tables are available at nahb.org/hmi, with further housing statistics at Housing Economics PLUS. Media contacts for the report are Elizabeth Thompson, AVP, Media Relations, at (202) 266-8495, and Stephanie Pagan, Director, Media Relations, at (202) 266-8254.
