Global| Aug 25 2010U.S. New Home Sales' Depressed Level Pulls Prices To 2003 Level
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
What the Federal government gives, it can take away. And the removal of the $8,000 home-buyer tax credit wreaked more havoc on home sales last month. The Census Department indicated that July new home sales fell 12.4% to 276,000, [...]
What the Federal government gives, it can take away. And the removal of the
$8,000 home-buyer tax credit wreaked more havoc on home sales last month. The
Census Department indicated that July new home sales fell 12.4% to 276,000,
another record low, from a downwardly-revised June. Expectations were for sales
of 333,000. Two months ago it was reported that May sales had reached a
record low. The decline in home sales was sharp across the country's regions but
most pronounced in the Southern and Western states where sales were
bottom-scrapping. These tallies began in 1963.
The decline in sales last month caused median home prices to again fall. The 4.8% y/y decline to $204,000 was to the lowest level since December 2003. The average price of a new home also fell sharply to $235,300 (-13.2% y/y), also the lowest since 2003.
At the current sales rate, the months' supply of unsold homes rose back to 9.1, nearly the highest in a year, from an upwardly revised 8.0 in June. The latest remained well below the early-2009 high of 12.1 months. The inventory of unsold homes was down 22.2% from last year and down nearly two-thirds from the 2006 peak.
The data in this report are available in Haver's USECON database
| US New Homes | July | June | May | Y/Y | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Sales (SAAR, 000s) | 276 | 315 | 281 | -32.4% | 372 | 481 | 769 |
| Northeast | 31 | 36 | 27 | -24.4 | 32 | 35 | 64 |
| Midwest | 44 | 48 | 37 | -21.4 | 54 | 69 | 118 |
| South | 157 | 172 | 153 | -26.6 | 201 | 264 | 409 |
| West | 44 | 59 | 64 | -54.6 | 87 | 113 | 178 |
| Median Price (NSA, $) | 204,000 | 217,000 | 227,800 | -4.8% | 214,500 | 230,408 | 243,742 |
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.
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