Month: January 2012

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) released January numbers from their NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) this morning. The HMI rose 4 points to 25, the highest level since June 2007.

So what does that mean?

For the past twenty years NAHB has been conducting this survey among home builders. They ask home builders what their expectations are for single-family home sales over the next six months, poor, fair, or good. They also rate prospective buyer traffic the home builders are experiencing, from very low to very high.

The HMI showed that all four regions in the U.S. have improved in January, the largest gain of 9 was in the Northeast, bringing it up to 23.

Jeff Benjamin of Investment News recently explained why he is still bullish on REITs. In fact REITs were up 7.5% according to FTSE Nareit’s All REIT Index. That certainly beats out the 2.1% the S&P 500 was able to muster. He also writes about the reasons for strength in 2011, including lower vacancy rates and the phenomenal growth in healthcare and regional malls REITs.