New Home Sales Up, Supply Down

U.S. new home sales reached a 5-year high in June, beating expert predictions by more than 10,000 at a total of 497,000 sales. The data tracks new homes …

U.S. new home sales reached a 5-year high in June, beating expert predictions by more than 10,000 at a total of 497,000 sales. The data tracks new homes that sell within a month and June’s statistics are the first reported since mortgage rates started to climb. Falling housing starts are indicative of the apprehension among homebuilders, despite analysts’ belief that supply is short and will not be able to sustain the continued growth in the market. Experts say builders are responding to the demands of the day rather than those of the future, which is keeping the market tight. For more on this continue reading the following article from TheStreet.

New home sales in the U.S. rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 497,000 in June, the highest level since July 2008.

Sales of newly constructed homes climbed 8.3% from a downwardly revised estimate of 459,000 in May and up 38% from a year earlier.

Economists polled by Bloomberg expected new home sales to rise to 481,000 in June from the original estimate of 476,000 in May.

Claim up to $26,000 per W2 Employee

  • Billions of dollars in funding available
  • Funds are available to U.S. Businesses NOW
  • This is not a loan. These tax credits do not need to be repaid
The ERC Program is currently open, but has been amended in the past. We recommend you claim yours before anything changes.

New home sales measure the number of newly constructed homes with a committed sale in a month. The June report is the first home sales report that factors in the impact of higher mortgage rates. The 30-year conventional fixed-rate mortgage backed up 100 basis points to about 4.5% between May and June.

The median sales price for new home sales in June was $249,700, down from $262,800 in May; the average sales price was $295,000, down from $307,400 in May.

Inventory of new homes for sale at the end of June was estimated at 161,000, unchanged from the previous month and continues to trail demand. The inventory represents 3.9 months of supply at the current sales pace.

Housing starts unexpectedly fell in June, though the decline was led by multi-family starts, which tend to be more volatile.

Still, homebuilders have been wary of overbuilding, although their sentiment as expressed in recent surveys has been mostly positive.

"Builders are responding to demand today, not tomorrow," Bank of America Merrill Lynch economist Michelle Meyer said in an interview Tuesday. "So they are keeping inventories lean."

This article was republished with permission from TheStreet.

advertisement

Does Your Small Business Qualify?

Claim Up to $26K Per Employee

Don't Wait. Program Expires Soon.

Click Here

Share This:

In this article