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Nationwide homebuilder confidence hit the lowest level in seven months, according to the industry’s biggest trade group. But builders in the Northeast are notably more optimistic.

“Construction firms are facing added cost pressures from tariffs,” National Association of Home Builders Chief Economist Robert Dietz said in a statement. “Data from the HMI March survey reveals that builders estimate a typical cost effect from recent tariff actions at $9,200 per home. Uncertainty on policy is also having a negative impact on home buyers and development decisions.”

The latest monthly NAHB/Wells Fargo survey of homebuilders found that homebuilder confidence nationwide fell to a reading of 39 in March, on a 100-point index where any number over 50 indicates that more builders view conditions as good than poor.

But while builders in the Midwest, South and West all reported confidence readings of 38, 39 and 34, respectively, Northeast builders’ confidence was nearly at the break-even point, with a reading of 47.

In addition, the survey found 29 percent of builders across the country cut home prices in March, up from 26 percent in February. Meanwhile, the average price reduction was 5 percent in March, the same rate as the previous month. The use of sales incentives was 59 percent in March, unchanged from February.

At the same time, projected single-family housing starts over the next 12 months rose 11.4 percent year-over-year on a seasonally adjusted basis, while multifamily projected starts rose 10.7 percent, NAHB reported.

Combined single-family and multifamily projected starts were 4.7 percent lower in the Northeast, 21.5 percent lower in the Midwest, 8.3 percent lower in the South and 20.2 percent higher in the West.

The number of single-family homes actively under construction in February was down 6.7 percent from a year ago, at 640,000 homes. The count of apartments under construction increased 0.3 percent to an annualized 772,000 pace. It marks the first gain after 18 months of consecutive declines, the NAHB said, but was still down 20 percent on a year-over-year basis.

““NAHB forecasts that single-family starts will remain effectively flat in 2025 as prospects of a better regulatory business climate are offset by uncertainty on the tariff front. Meanwhile, multifamily construction is expected to remain soft in early 2025 due to challenging financing conditions, before stabilizing in the second half of the year,” Jing Fu, the NAHB’s senior director of forecasting, said in a statement.