Global| May 25 2021U.S. New Home Sales Fall Sharply in April
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
• Sales decline reverses March increase. • Declines occur throughout most of country. • Median home prices near-record high. Sales of new single-family homes declined 5.9% (+48.3% y/y) during April to 863,000 units (SAAR) following a [...]
• Sales decline reverses March increase.
• Declines occur throughout most of country.
• Median home prices near-record high.
Sales of new single-family homes declined 5.9% (+48.3% y/y) during April to 863,000 units (SAAR) following a 7.4% increase to 917,000 in March, revised from 1.021 million. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected 970,000 sales in April.
Sales in the South fell 8.2% (+61.2% y/y) to 545,000 units after increasing 24.0% to 594,000 in March, revised from 694,000. In the Midwest, sales weakened 8.3% last month (+46.7% y/y) to 110,000 units following a 6.2% March rise to 120,000, revised from 132,000. Sales in Northeast weakened 13.7% to 44,000 units (+100.0% y/y) after a roughly one-third March rise. Increasing by 7.9% (11.6% y/y) were sales in the West to 164,000 units following a 31.8% decline during March.
The median price of a new home rose 11.4% (20.1% y/y) in April to $372,400 following two months of roughly 5.5% decline. Working 8.7% higher (20.8% y/y) to $435,400 was the average price of a new home, following a 0.5% easing in March. These prices are not seasonally adjusted.
The supply of new homes for sale rose to 4.4 months in April, the most since May of last year. The median number of months a new home stayed on the market was 3.8, after surging to 4.6 months in March.
New home sales activity and prices are available in Haver's USECON database. The consensus expectation figure from Action Economics is available in the AS1REPNA database.
| U.S. New Single-Family Home Sales (SAAR, 000s) | Apr | Mar | Feb | Apr Y/Y % | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 863 | 917 | 854 | 48.3 | 828 | 683 | 614 |
| Northeast | 44 | 51 | 39 | 100.0 | 37 | 30 | 32 |
| Midwest | 110 | 120 | 113 | 46.7 | 94 | 72 | 75 |
| South | 545 | 594 | 479 | 61.2 | 476 | 399 | 347 |
| West | 164 | 152 | 223 | 11.6 | 221 | 182 | 159 |
| Median Price (NSA, $) | 372,400 | 334,200 | 352,800 | 20.1 | 334,992 | 319,267 | 323,125 |
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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