U.S. home builder mood dips, but up in West - New Mexico Business Weekly:

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The / Housing Marke Index declined one point to 15in June, but rose two pointsw in the Western region to 14. “Thwe outlook for home sales has improved somewhat inrecent months, due largelty to implementation of the first-time home buyerr tax credit and gainxs in housing affordability,” said NAHB Chairma Joe Robson, a home builder from Tulsa, Okla. looking forward, home builders are facingb a few headwinds, including expiration of the tax credit at the end of a recent upturn in interest and especially the continuing lack of credit for housinhgproduction loans.
” Two out of threse of the HMI’s component indexes were unchangefd in June, including the index gauginbg current home sales, which held at 14, and the inde x gauging traffic of prospective buyers, which held at 13. Meanwhile, the index gauging expectations for the next six months declined asingle point, to 26. The nationa decline was driven entirely focused by buildersx inthe South, which is the nation’ largest housing market. There, the HMI declined 3 pointes to 15, while the rest of the regions posted In addition to the gain in the the Northeast hada one-point gain to 20 and the Midwest showed a one-point gain to 15.