The National Association of Home Builders released a report on Wednesday unexpectedly showing a slight improvement by U.S. homebuilder confidence in the month of April.
The report said the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index inched up to 40 in April after falling to 39 in March. With the unexpected increase, the housing market index regained ground after hitting a seven-month low in the previous month.
The uptick by the headline index came as the index gauging current sales conditions rose to 45 in April from 43 in March and the gauge charting traffic of prospective buyers increased crept up to 25 in April from 24 in March.
Meanwhile, the report said the component measuring sales expectations in the next six months fell to 43 in April from 47 in March.
The NAHB said 60 percent of builders reported their suppliers have already increased or announced increases of material prices due to tariffs.
On average, suppliers have increased their prices by 6.3 percent in response to announced, enacted, or expected tariffs, the NAHB continued, noting this means builders estimate a typical cost effect from recent tariff actions at $10,900 per home.
The report also said the latest HMI survey revealed 29 percent of builders cut home prices in April, unchanged from March. The average price reduction was also unchanged from the previous month at 5 percent.