2017.12.1810:53:00UTC+00U.S. Housing Market Index Jumps To 18-Year High In December

Partially reflecting new policies aimed at providing regulatory relief to the business community, the National Association of Home Builders released a report on Monday showing an unexpected jump in U.S. homebuilder confidence in the month of December.

The report said the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index jumped to 74 in December from a downwardly revised 69 in November.

Economists had expected the index to come in unchanged compared to the 70 originally reported for the previous month.

With the unexpected increase, the housing market index reached its highest level since hitting 75 in July of 1999.

"The HMI measure of home buyer traffic rose eight points, showing that demand for housing is on the rise," said NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz.

He added, "With low unemployment rates, favorable demographics and a tight supply of existing home inventory, we can expect continued upward movement of the single-family construction sector next year."

The NAHB said the component measuring buyer traffic surged up to 58 in December from 50 in November.

The index gauging current sales conditions also by rose four points to 81 and the index charting sales expectations in the next six months increased by three points to 79.

Later this week, reports on new and existing home sales in the month of November are likely to attract attention.