With just weeks away from the expiration of the home buying tax credit, the April NAHB homebuilder sentiment index was 3 pts better than expected at 19 and up 4 pts from March. It’s at the highest level since Sept. Most of the gain was led by the Present condition component which rose 5 pts. Future expectations were up just 1 pt and likely reflects the uncertainty of what will happen to demand when the tax credit expires. Prospective Buyers Traffic rose 4 pts to 14 with gains in the South and Midwest. The Northeast was flat and the West saw a decline of 2 pts.
