The appeal of new homes to baby boomers and older buyers hasn't gone unnoticed by builders.

To be sure, builder confidence in the single-family housing market for borrowers older than 55 remained strong in the fourth quarter of 2018 with a reading of 66, up six points compared to the third quarter, according to the National Association of Home Builders' 55+ Housing Market Index.

The index measures two segments of the market: Single-family homes and multifamily condominiums. Each segment was designed to capture builder sentiment based on a survey that asks if current sales, prospective buyer traffic and anticipated six-month sales for that market are good, fair or poor (high, average or low for traffic).

"Overall, builders and developers in the 55 plus housing market are reporting strong demand across the country,” said Chuck Ellison, chairman of NAHB's 55+ Housing Industry Council. “However, builders need to continue to manage rising construction costs to keep homes in 55 plus communities at affordable price points." Ellison is also the vice president of land of Miller & Smith in McLean, Va.

All three index components of the 55 plus single-family index posted increases from the previous quarter: Present sales rose six points to 72, expected sales for the next six months increased five points to 70 and traffic of prospective buyers jumped 10 points to 53.

The 55 plus multifamily condo HMI posted a gain of three points to 47. The index component for present sales increased three points to 51, expected sales for the next six months fell four points to 49 and traffic of prospective buyers rose seven points to 38.

Two of the four components of the 55 plus multifamily rental market went up from the third quarter: present production increased six points to 60 and present demand for existing units rose four points to 67. Future expected production and future expected demand both fell two points to 54 and 62, respectively.

"Like the broader housing market, the 55 plus HMI is benefitting from the recent decline in mortgage rates," said Robert Dietz, chief economist for the NAHB. "Favorable demographics and solid home owner wealth should continue to support demand for new 55 plus housing."

The share of homes sold above asking price declined each month in the second half of 2018, and December saw the biggest month-over-month drop since at least 2012, another sign of the slowing housing market.

Nineteen percent of home sales in the U.S. went for above asking in December, down from 21 percent in November and a peak of 24 percent in May. While lower than the highs of this spring, the level remains above the 17-percent range from 2014.

This downward trend in December was widespread: Eight of the 10 largest markets in the U.S. experienced a drop from November levels, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., were the exceptions. Among the largest 35 markets, 27 saw a downtick in the share of homes that sold above list. The largest drop was in Indianapolis, where homes selling above list fell nearly 13 percentage points, followed by San Francisco, down 5.4 percentage points. Notably, San Francisco still saw the second-highest share of homes sell above list price in December (42.6 percent) among top-35 markets, exceeded only by San Antonio (44.3 percent).

Despite the slowdown during the back half of the year, the annual share of homes sold above list price still trended upward for the fourth consecutive year, though the pace is slowing. Nationally, 23.5 percent of homes sold above list price in 2018 compared to 22.7 percent in 2017. The median amount above asking that sellers realized fell from $7,000to $6,830.

"Last year marked an inflection point in the housing market. The first half of 2018 looked a lot like the previous three years with sellers firmly in control of the market and buyers outbidding each other for scarce inventory, pushing up prices," said Zillow’s senior economist Aaron Terrazas. "But something shifted mid-summer. Sellers sitting on the sidelines joined in, increasing inventory. With mortgage rates now back down, early data from the first month of 2019 suggest that it is still premature to call it a buyer's market."

The San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley remained the hottest housing region in the country in 2018. Among top-35 markets, San Jose, Calif., (64.1 percent) and San Francisco (61.6 percent) had the highest share of home sales above asking price despite a steady slowdown since the start of last year. These two markets combine to fill the top-10 lists for share of homes sold above asking and median price above asking since Zillow began tracking this data in 2012. This includes a record $101,000 median price above asking in San Jose in 2018, shattering the previous record of $70,000 set in San Jose in 2017.

Miami (9.7 percent of homes sold above asking), Tampa Bay (14.5 percent) and Pittsburgh (15.2 percent) were 2018's coolest top-35 markets. Nearly 84 percent of homes in Miami sold for below their asking price last year, which was the highest share among top-35 markets since 2014.

Planet Home Lending LLC, a national lender and servicer, opened 26 retail branches, expanded into other channels and brought on 165 mortgage loan originators in 2018.

Also, it increased the private client sub-servicing portfolio by 300 percent and the correspondent division expanded its client base by 40 percent, according to the company. The renovation division expanded to serve nine states and added a new loan origination system, and the retail channel opened a new office in Mt. Laurel, N.J, and the company rolled out 66 loan programs and products.

To support the new branches, Planet added the Surefire CRM and launched Skymore, a personal digital mortgage assistant. In addition, working with the National Forest Foundation Planet will donate three trees for every loan that was closed in 2019.

"We have taken a very deliberate approach to how we conduct business and how we want to grow our business," said Michael Dubeck, CEO and president of Planet. "The industry continues to fluctuate based on rates; however, we are proving that it is possible to be stable and provide consistency to your clients through offering a variety of loan products."