We were told how great the housing market was? Right? Low rates blah blah blah...

Well, as we have explained in detail recently, things are very much not as rosy as your local realtor would suggest as while this is indeed a seller's market (with new- and existing-home-prices at record highs), buyers remain anything but amused.

Confidence among U.S. homebuilders pulled back in July to an 11-month low as builders contend with elevated materials prices and ongoing supply shortages. The NAHB sentiment signal dropped for a second month to 80 from 81 in June

"Builders continue to grapple with elevated building material prices and supply shortages, particularly the price of oriented strand board, which has skyrocketed more than 500% above its January 2020 level," NAHB Chairman Chuck Fowke said in a statement. Similar to particle board, the engineered wood is a common material used in home building.

"We are grateful that the White House heeded our urgent plea to hold a building materials meeting with interested stakeholders on July 16 to seek solutions to end production bottlenecks that have harmed housing affordability."

The report also showed a measure of current sales conditions and a gauge of prospective buyer traffic fell to their lowest levels since August.

However, sales expectations for the next six months rose two points... always the optimists?

Of course, as Upton Sinclair is credited with saying:

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it."

So the fact that homebuilders are starting to crack means that message of reality is creeping in.