Mubasher: US home builder sentiment recorded one-year peak in September, amid firm household formations and attractive mortgage rates, a builder lobby group’s report showed.

The National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) monthly confidence index, which traces the newly-built single family home market outlook, rose by one point to 67 in September. This marked the strongest reading since last October.

However, builders voiced a growing concern over the uncertainty arising from the trade conflict with China.

“NAHB’s Home Building Geography Index indicates that the slowdown in the manufacturing sector is holding back home construction in some parts of the nation, although there is growth in rural and exurban areas,” NAHB’s senior economist Robert Dietz said.

The current sales conditions index, which is one of the components of the overall NAHB index, advanced by two points to 75.

However, the gauge of the expected sales in the coming six months shed one point to 70, with the buyer traffic tracker stabilising at a reading of 50.