Homebuilders still confident but rates a concern

• Builder sentiment index remians at highest level since November 2005
• Outlook for next six months declined on concerns about higher mortgage rates
• Average 30-year mortgage rate is at 4.57%25

U.S. homebuilders' confidence in the housing market held this month at its highest level in nearly eight years. But builders are starting to worry that sales may slow if mortgage rates continue to rise.

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index stayed at 58, the highest since November 2005. The August reading was revised down from an initial reading of 59.

Readings above 50 indicate more builders view sales conditions as good, rather than poor.

A measure of current sales conditions was unchanged. But builders' outlook for single-family home sales over the next six months fell three points.

Mortgage rates have risen more than a full percentage point since May, when Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke first indicated the Fed could slow its bond buying this year.