Global| Sep 24 2010U.S. New Home Sales Remain Near Record Low; Prices Fall to 2003 Level
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
With no government help and no jobs growth, home sales remain mired. The Census Department indicated that August new home sales were even with July at 288,000. July's figure was revised up from 276,000 while May sales of 282,000 were [...]
With no government help and no jobs growth, home sales remain mired. The Census Department indicated that August new home sales were even with July at 288,000. July's figure was revised up from 276,000 while May sales of 282,000 were the series' low. Expectations were for August sales of 295,000. The stability of home sales last month reflected varied changes across the country's regions. Sales in the Northeast rose slightly m/m and have bounced around the series' bottom for twelve months. Sales in the West also rose m/m. But in the Midwest and South sales continued to fall to new lows.
The low level of sales last month caused median home prices to fall to the lowest level since December 2003. The 1.2% y/y decline to $204,700 was accompanied by a slight rise in the average price of a new home to $248,800 (-3.5% y/y), also near the lowest since 2003.
At the current sales rate, the months' supply of unsold homes was roughly constant at 8.6, nearly the highest in a year. The latest remained well below the early-2009 high of 12.1 months. The inventory of unsold homes was down 21.4% from last year and down nearly two-thirds from the 2006 peak.
The data in this report are available in Haver's USECON database.
American Dream or American Obsession? The Economic Benefits and Costs of Homeownership from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia is available here.
| US New Homes | August | July | June | Y/Y | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Sales (SAAR, 000s) | 288 | 288 | 312 | -28.9% | 372 | 481 | 769 |
| Northeast | 35 | 30 | 35 | -5.4 | 32 | 35 | 64 |
| Midwest | 34 | 46 | 47 | -38.2 | 54 | 69 | 118 |
| South | 148 | 166 | 173 | -28.2 | 201 | 264 | 409 |
| West | 71 | 46 | 57 | -33.6 | 87 | 113 | 178 |
| Median Price (NSA, $) | 204,700 | 205,900 | 218,000 | -1.2% | 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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