Housing slide watch

Homebuilders said the housing market went from dead to deader in early June. The National Association of Home Builders' (NAHB) Present Conditions Index fell from 15 (revised down) to 13 (on a scale of 0-100, with anything below 50 being negative). Model center prospective buyer traffic fell two points to 12 (on a scale of 100). These numbers are atrocious, dropping to near the lowest levels of the past 21 years. Weak traffic foreshadows weak sales, and traffic remains nearly nonexistent. The traffic index would need to rise above 18 to signal a meaningful increase in potential demand. [Lee Adler]