It’s been nearly 10 years since home builders have been this confident about the housing market.

The Housing Market Index, which is based on a survey by the National Association of Home Builders, rose 1 point to 61 this month, its highest level since November 2005. Builders were asked about current sales of new single-family houses, sales expectations for the next six months, and traffic of prospective buyers. Two components — current sales and buyer traffic — were up, while sales expectations were unchanged.

“Job and economic gains should keep the market moving forward at a modest pace throughout the rest of the year,” said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe.

Home builders’ biggest challenges are finding land to build on and workers, Woods said.

We’ll get some hard numbers on how the housing market performed in July later this week, when data for existing home sales and new home sales are released.

Business First Louisville