Home Builders Fall on Sentiment Survey

WASHINGTON (TheStreet) -- Home builders' confidence is once again waning as the government's homebuyer tax credit is scheduled to come to an end next month.

The National Association of Home Builders said on Monday that its housing market index slipped one point to 18 in October, its first decline since June.

A reading below 50 indicates negative sentiment. The last time the reading was above 50 was in April 2006.

According to the survey, home builders fear that the $8,000 tax credit, set to expire in November, will once again return home sales to the lows experienced earlier this year.

Home-builder shares were trading in the red Monday afternoon. KB Home(KBH Quote) was down 1.4% to $15.60, Lennar(LEN Quote) fell 0.8% to $14.54, MDC(MDC Quote) declined 0.7% to $37.43, Toll Brothers (TOL Quote) was off 0.7% to $19.45 and NVR(NVR Quote) sank 2.1% to $669.52.

-Reported by Jeanine Poggi in New York.

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