New Home Sales in U.S. Dip 1.7 Percent Mid-Summer
"A lack of overall housing inventory is pushing up home prices, which is hurting affordability and causing prospective buyers to delay making a home purchase," said Randy Noel, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).
"Although this month marks the lowest sales pace since last October, we continue to see solid housing demand due to economic strengthening and positive demographic tailwinds," said NAHB Senior Economist Danushka Nanayakkara-Skillington. "Builders need to manage rising construction costs to keep their homes competitively priced for the newcomers to the housing market."
A new home sale occurs when a sales contract is signed or a deposit is accepted. The home can be in any stage of construction: not yet started, under construction or completed. In addition to adjusting for seasonal effects, the July reading of 627,000 units is the number of homes that would sell if this pace continued for the next 12 months.
The inventory of new homes for sale was 309,000 in July, which is a 5.9-month supply at the current sales pace. The median sales price rose to $328,700.
Regionally, new home sales rose 10.9 percent in the West and 9.9 percent in the Midwest. Sales fell 3.3 percent in the South and 52.3 percent in the Northeast. Year-to-date, sales in the Northeast are down 14.5 percent as that region deals with impacts from tax reform and persistent affordability issues.
According to the Mortgage Bankers Association's latest Commercial/Multifamily Delinquency Report, commercial and multifamily mortgage delinquencies in the U.S. remained at a low rate in the final three months of 2018.
According to the Mortgage Bankers Association's latest Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending March 1, 2019, mortgage applications in the U.S. decreased 2.5 percent from one week earlier.
Sales of new homes in all four major U.S. regions significantly declined in the last two months of 2018. The year-over-year trend was especially drastic in the Northeast, where new-home sales fell by 16.1 percent in December.
According to the National Association of Realtors, Existing-home sales in the U.S. increased in November 2018 for the second month in a row. Three of four major U.S. regions also saw gains in sales activity last month.
According to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index released this week, a modest increase in interest rates and home prices kept housing affordability at a 10-year low in the third quarter of 2018.
According to Freddie Mac's most recent Primary Mortgage Market Survey for November 2018, U.S. mortgage rates dropping slightly after last week's increases.
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