Dive Brief:

• The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index monthly survey for March shows a builder community that sees a less-than-rousing market, though the winter weather may bear part of the blame.
• The survey showed builders nationally are more optimistic than pessimistic (a reading above 50) about current sales and the prospects for the next six months, but the survey component that asks about current buyer traffic was in the dumps at 33.
• Regionally, the three-month moving average fell for the Northeast, South, Midwest and West, but only the Midwest and West stayed above 50, with the South slipping just below it and the already depressed Northeast dropping to 35.

Dive Insight:

Weather will change, eventually, but the association says two concerns weigh on builders' minds whether there is winter ice or spring flowers: lots and labor. Both are in short supply. Developers were not creating building sites during the recession and have not caught up with demand, and lots of labor walked away from the trades during those years.