Global| Apr 24 2012U.S. New Home Sales And Prices Decline
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
New home sales fell 7.1% to 328,000 last month. The decline reversed a revised 7.3% February increase, revised from -1.6%. Earlier months' figures also were revised higher. The latest sales beat Consensus expectations for 318,000 but [...]
New home sales fell 7.1% to 328,000 last month. The decline reversed a revised 7.3% February increase, revised from -1.6%. Earlier months' figures also were revised higher. The latest sales beat Consensus expectations for 318,000 but they remained down roughly three-quarters versus the 2005 peak.
Sales performance continued to vary across the country. The total's decline reflected a 20.0% falloff (-7.7% y/y) in Midwest sales and a 27.0% drop (-7.1% y/y) in the West. Offsetting these declines was a 7.7% rise (12.0% y/y) in the Northeast and a 3.1% gain (16.4% y/y) in the South.
The median price of a new single family home fell 1.0% m/m (+6.3% y/y) to $234,500 from an upwardly revised $236,900 in February. The average price of a new home gained 8.0% m/m to $291,200 (11.7% y/y), its highest since July of 2008.
The length of time to sell a new home increased slightly m/m to a median 7.8 months, but remained below 8.3 months of last year, 11.4 months in 2010 and 12.0 months in 2009. The inventory of unsold homes fell to another series low (-19.1% y/y) and, at 5.3 months, remained near the cycle-low. Low inventories of unsold homes are fairly common across the country.
The data in this report are available in Haver's USECON database. The expectation figure from Action Economics is available in the AS1REPNA database.
| U.S. New Home Sales | Mar | Feb | Jan | Y/Y % | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total (SAAR, 000s) | 328 | 353 | 329 | 7.5 | 307 | 321 | 374 |
| Northeast | 28 | 26 | 23 | 12.0 | 21 | 31 | 31 |
| Midwest | 36 | 45 | 42 | -7.7 | 45 | 45 | 54 |
| South | 199 | 193 | 191 | 16.4 | 169 | 173 | 202 |
| West | 65 | 89 | 73 | -7.1 | 72 | 74 | 87 |
| Median Price (NSA, $) | 234,500 | 236,900 | 218,000 | 6.3 | 224,317 | 221,242 | 214,500 |
Tom Moeller
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Prior to joining Haver Analytics in 2000, Mr. Moeller worked as the Economist at Chancellor Capital Management from 1985 to 1999. There, he developed comprehensive economic forecasts and interpreted economic data for equity and fixed income portfolio managers. Also at Chancellor, Mr. Moeller worked as an equity analyst and was responsible for researching and rating companies in the economically sensitive automobile and housing industries for investment in Chancellor’s equity portfolio. Prior to joining Chancellor, Mr. Moeller was an Economist at Citibank from 1979 to 1984. He also analyzed pricing behavior in the metals industry for the Council on Wage and Price Stability in Washington, D.C. In 1999, Mr. Moeller received the award for most accurate forecast from the Forecasters' Club of New York. From 1990 to 1992 he was President of the New York Association for Business Economists. Mr. Moeller earned an M.B.A. in Finance from Fordham University, where he graduated in 1987. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from George Washington University.
