U.S. NAHB Housing Market index rises above expectations in January, housing to rebound modestly in 2019

The U.S. NAHB Housing Market Index rises above expectations in January. The builder confidence rose two points to 58 in the month, as a considerable fall in mortgage rates helped in reversing the prior two months’ 12-point fall. Mortgage rates peaked near 5 percent in mid-November but have since dropped to below 4.5 percent.

An increasingly dovish Fed content to pause on rate rises in the first half of the year would possibly help stem the erosion in home buying seen in the past nine months of 2018. Demand side data gave additional evidence of a recovery, as mortgage apps rose above 10 percent each of the past two weeks.

The ongoing government shutdown will most likely avert the release of new housing starts and permits data for September, noted Wells Fargo in a research report.

“Still, forward looking indicators suggest a modest improvement for housing, which we expect to continue through 2019”, added Wells Fargo.

At 17:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was neutral at 12.0309 more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex