U.S. home builders are less confident about the housing market, according to the latest National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI).  Although the government’s tax credit for home buyers helped fuel a flurry of activity in the housing market earlier this year, sales have declined since the credit expired in April.

NAHB Chairman Bob Jones, a home builder from Bloomfield Hills, Mich, said:

The home buyer tax credit did its job in stoking spring sales and we expected a temporary pull back in the builders’ outlook after the credit expired at the end of April,” “However, the reduction in consumer activity may have been more dramatic than some builders had anticipated, which resulted in their lower confidence levels.

The HMI fell five points to 17 in June. The index had risen over the past couple months, but is now back to where it was in February. The monthly survey looks at whether or not builders expect sales of current single family homes to be good, fair, or poor over the next six months. It also asks them to rate their expectations for traffic of prospective buyers. An overall score of 50 and up means more builders believe that conditions are good rather than poor.