Homebuilder sentiment for the month of February came in right in line with expectations today and remains right near its highest levels of the expansion. At a current level of 72, sentiment has only been at more optimistic levels a handful of times. In fact, during the years of the housing bubble in the early 2000s, homebuilder sentiment was never higher.
Below we show the breakdown of this month’s report by traffic, sales, and region. As far as traffic and sales is concerned, there wasn’t much in the way of big moves, although Future Sales has only been higher in one other period (the late 1990s). As far as regional sentiment is concerned, sentiment in the Northeast and West saw moderate declines, while the Midwest and South (where property and local taxes are relatively low) was unchanged. This is a trend to watch going forward.
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