The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has released their recent Housing Market Index survey for an update on home builders’ confidence, and the news is good, yet again. In fact, the report revealed that the last time home builders were this confident in the housing market was 10 years ago.

The Housing Market Index rose another point to reach 61 in August, and it hasn’t been this high since November 2005. Although this index is on a national level, its overall implications are good for the Maui real estate market where inventory is having trouble keeping up with demand.

The survey asked home builders what they thought about current sales of new, single-family houses, and whether they are optimistic about the next six months, including the traffic of prospective buyers. The results showed that home builders expected future sales to remain the same, but they were more optimistic about current sales and buyer traffic. This just tells you that although they recognize how well things are going now, they have learned to be cautious in their expectations for the future.

NAHB Chairman Tom Woods stated that we’re seeing slow and steady progress in single-family housing, and that the biggest challenges faced by home builders are finding both workers and land to build on. Their Chief Economist, David Crowe said that job and that economic improvements are likely to keep moving the market forward throughout the year.

As far as the challenge of finding land to build on, Maui real estate developments face the same difficulty because space on our island is limited. That means the government has to carefully plan which areas of the island are slated for development. Now more than ever, those in search of Maui real estate can benefit from the guidance of expert realtors. If you’re in the market, we hope to hear from you soon. You’ll find our contact information at the bottom of the page. Mahalo!