Homebuild🌜er confidence remained subdued in July, dropping to its lowest reading since December as high borrowing costs weighed on s💜entiment. 

The National Association of Home Builders' index of confidence came in at 42 in July, down a point 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:from the prior month—a reading that shows a majority of builders believe the market is in poor condition. Economists were expecting the index to move up one point instead, according to a survey of economists by the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires.

Rate Cut Hopes Brighten Outlook

Homebuilders were down on their current sales and traffic of prospective buyers. However, they were s🍰lightly more optimistic about expected sales in the next six months.

High mortgage rates have discouraged potential buyers, as high borrowing costs pressure澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网: housing affordability. The🅰 average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is still hovering near 7%, but homebuilders are hoping that interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve can change that.

“While buyers appear to be waiting for lower interest rates, the six-month sales expectation for builders moved higher, indicating that builders expect mortgage rates to edge lower later this year as inflation data are showing signs of easing,” said NAHB Chairman Carl Har🍷ris.

The central bank's influential fed funds rate and traders' expectations of it 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:affect the tr🌸ajectory of mortgage rates.

Investors seem to think that trajectory is on the right track, as homebuilder stocks rallied 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:on that same optimism Tuesday. Shares of D.R. Horton (DHI), Toll Brothers (TOL), PulteGroup (PHM), KB Home (KBH) and Lennar Corporation (LEN) all traded more than 3% higher.