WASHINGTON, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- In December, builder confidence for new single-family homes fell to the lowest level since May 2015, as housing affordability concerns persist in the United States, said National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) on Monday.

NAHB's latest Housing Market Index (HMI) showed that Builder confidence in the market for newly-built single-family homes fell 4 points to 56.

The index is derived from a monthly survey that NAHB has been conducting for 30 years, gauging builder perceptions of current single-family home sales and sales expectations for the next six months. Any number over 50 indicates that more builders view conditions as good than poor, said NAHB.

NAHB also said that all components of the index dropped in November. The component measuring current sales conditions fell 6 points to 61, while the component gauging expectations in the next six months dropped 4 points to 61. Besides, the metric measuring buyer traffic fell 2 points to 43.

"We are hearing from builders that consumer demand exists, but that customers are hesitating to make a purchase because of rising home costs," said Randy Noel, chairman of NAHB.

"The fact that builder confidence dropped significantly in areas of the country with high home prices shows how the growing housing affordability crisis is hurting the market," said Robert Dietz, Chief Economist of NAHB.

"This housing slowdown is an early indicator of economic softening, and it is important that builders manage supply-side costs to keep home prices competitive for buyers at different price points," Dietz said. Enditem

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