Housing Market Index Jumps, Exceeds Consensus

Low mortgage rates are helping the housing sector, at least for builders whose September housing market composite index jumped to 68 to exceed Econoday's consensus range. The current sales component is the source of September's, up 2 points to a very strong 75 and offering a positive indication for coming new home sales data as posted by the government. The traffic component held unchanged at 50 which is actually a good reading for this stubbornly weak component. Sales six-month hence did edge 1 point lower but are still strong at 70. Regional composite scores are led by the two most important regions, the West at 75 and the South at 70 with the Northeast at 59 and the Midwest at 57.