---
source: National Association of Home Builders
url: https://www.nahb.org/news-and-economics/housing-economics/indices/housing-market-index
document_type: html
date_retrieved: 2026-04-15
period: April 2026
parent_publication: NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI)
indicators_covered: ["Housing Market Index (Overall)", "Current Sales Conditions", "Sales Expectations (Next 6 Months)", "Buyer Traffic"]
---

# NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index — April 2026

Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes **fell four points to 34 in April** from 38 in March.

## April 2026 HMI Readings

- **Overall HMI:** 34 (down from 38)
- **Current sales conditions:** 37 (down 4 points)
- **Sales expectations (next six months):** 42 (down 7 points)
- **Buyer traffic:** 22 (down 3 points)

## Market Context

The latest HMI survey also revealed that:
- 36% of builders cut prices in April (down from 37% in March); average price reduction was 5% (down from 6% in March)
- Use of sales incentives was 60% in April, down from 64% in March — marking the 13th consecutive month at 60% or higher

## About the HMI

The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) is based on a monthly survey of single-family builders who rate three conditions:

1. Present sales of new single-family homes
2. Expected sales for the next six months
3. Traffic of prospective buyers

Each component is converted into an index using the formula `(good – poor + 100)/2` for sales and `(high/very high – low/very low + 100)/2` for traffic. The overall HMI is a weighted average:
- Present sales: weight 0.5920
- Expected sales: weight 0.1358
- Buyer traffic: weight 0.2722

Scores range from 0 to 100; readings above 50 indicate majority optimism, below 50 indicates pessimism.

## Verification

The extracted values match the payload for event 398338:
- Actual HMI: **34** (payload: 34)
- Previous: 38 (payload: 38)
- Forecast: 37 (payload: 37)

April 2026 data tables are available in the NAHB press room linked from this page.