The worst time ever to be a homebuilder?

Every month, the National Association of Home Builders quizzes its members about the strength of the homebuilding business. The association has been doing this since 1985. That’s a long time, but not once in the history of this report have homebuilders been as pessimistic about their livelihood as they are now.

The association’s latest Home Market Index report, conducted with the assistance of mortgage giant Wells Fargo, shows that problems in the mortgage industry and a large inventory of unsold homes are making life tough for residential builders, who are struggling to find buyers for their newly built properties. Builders also complained that negative media coverage has made it more difficult for them to sell their new single-family homes. (I’ve addressed this issue before. Check it out here.)

According to the report, homebuilders in the Western region of the country have the dimmest view of the industry. The Midwest was the only portion of the country in which builders were slightly more optimistic – and “slightly” is the key word here – about the new-home market than they were one month earlier.

Not that anyone needed it, but the report is just one more piece of evidence that the housing industry is, indeed, mired in one of its more challenging markets yet. Unless you’re a buyer, of course … then things are actually pretty good.

Again, though, it’s hard not to blame some of the problems on the residential industry itself. Someone had to build all those new houses that are sitting unsold, right?