Have we reached that sticker shock point? And do you know what a distribution transformer is?

The August NAHB home builder survey index saw a 6 pt m/o/m drop to 50 where the estimate was for no change. The Present situation fell 5 pts m/o/m to 57 and the Future view saw a 4 pt drop to 55. The important ‘Prospective Buyers Traffic’ component dropped 6 pts to 34 and almost giving back all of the prior two month improvement.

It is this last sentence that is so important here. The large homebuilders are currently doing well in filling the vacuum of existing homes for sale but there is a breaking point for the potential buyer in terms of price/mortgage rate that not even mortgage rate buydowns, mortgage teasers and price cuts can be enough to mitigate. Are we there yet with a 7.5% national average 30 yr mortgage rate according to Bankrate? Just maybe as seen with today’s survey results and also, builders are still dealing with supply/labor issues.