US homebuilder confidence slides in February

全美建商信心指数二月现小幅下跌

U.S. homebuilders say sales prospects and buyer traffic fell slightly this month.

二月，美国新建住宅市场销售前景和买家流量出现小幅回落。

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index released Tuesday slipped to 55 in February from 57 in January.

全美住宅建筑商协会/富国建筑商信心指数上周二发布数据显示：二月的信心指数从一月的57跌到了55。

Despite the decline, builders remain relatively optimistic a month before the start of the spring buying season. Readings above 50 indicate that more builders view sales conditions as positive rather than poor. Lower mortgage rates, coupled with job gains over the past year, point to stronger sales.

尽管指数有轻微下降，许多建商在春季销售旺季开始前一个月对市场仍持乐观态度。该指数高于50也表明了这种明朗的市场预期。低房贷率，高就业率，都指向了未来更高的销售额。

Builders' outlook for current sales conditions and prospective buyer traffic slipped in February, while the expected sales conditions over the next six months held steady.

二月份建商对市场的信心有所回落，但是他们对未来6个月的市场预期依旧明朗。

The latest reading is consistent with the NAHB's forecast for the U.S. housing market to continue to improve at a gradual pace this year. Buyer traffic may have been blunted in February because of winter storms, the NAHB said.

最新资料与NAHB的推测基本一致——未来一年美国的住宅市场会以稳健上升的步伐前进。二月份买家流量下滑可能与今年冬季特别恶劣的气候有关。

After sluggish real estate sales for much of 2014, Americans snapped up newly built homes at a faster pace in December, a promising sign as warmer months tend to draw out buyers and sales begin to peak heading into summer.

全美楼市在2014年基本摆脱了低迷状态，12月份，出现了一股抢购新房的热潮，市场正释放出积极信号——今年夏天楼市交易很可能会进入一个新的波峰。

Sales of new homes surged 11.6 percent in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 481,000.

按照一季度房屋总销量48.1万套计算，新房销量在12月份激增了11.6个百分点。

Only 435,000 new homes were bought last year, a modest 1.2 per cent improvement from 2013. That is well below a pace of roughly 700,000 new homes selling in the 1990s.

去年，一共只售出了43.5万套新房，比2013年同比增长了1.2个百分点，比起90年代年平均出售70万套则要低上许多。

While home sales are slated to rise this year, economists doubt that they will return their historic pace as builders still seem chastened by the 2007 housing crash that triggered the worst recession in 80 years.

今年房屋销量上涨预期明显，可经济学家们还是疑虑他们是否会重回历史峰值，因为许多建商仍对2007年那次最严重的次贷危机心有余悸。

When builder sentiment was at similar levels in 2006, housing starts were 60 percent higher, said Joshua Shapiro, chief economist at MFR, a forecasting firm.

MFR预测公司首席经济学家Joshua Shapiro认为，如果要达到2006年的信心指数，房屋开工率至少要达到60%以上。

”There remains a big disconnect between what homebuilders are saying and what they are actually doing," Shapiro said.

“大部分建商言行不一，”Shapiro 说。