Global| Sep 26 2012U.S. New Home Sales Slip As Prices Rise
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
The new home sales market cooled off last month.New home sales in August slipped 0.3% to 373,000 from 374,000 during the prior month, revised from 372,000. The slip compared to Consensus expectations for 380,000 sales. The shortfall [...]
The new home sales market cooled off last month.New home sales in August slipped 0.3% to 373,000 from 374,000 during the prior month, revised from 372,000. The slip compared to Consensus expectations for 380,000 sales. The shortfall was led by a 4.9% (+11.5% y/y) decline in the South which was the fourth drop in the last five months. Sales in the West ticked up just 0.9% (64.6% y/y). Elsewhere, sales were stronger with the Northeast posting a 20.0% m/m increase and rising by more than one half y/y while sales in the Midwest rose 1.8% (16.7% y/y).
The median price of a new single family home increased 11.2% to $256,900 (17.0% y/y) while prices in prior months were revised higher. The average price gained to $295,300 (13.9% y/y) during August and was its highest since July 2008.
The length of time to sell a new home slipped m/m to 8.3 months in August. The inventory of unsold homes remained near the all time low at 141,000 units (-12.4% y/y). This is a 4.5 month supply at the current sales rate, the lowest since late-2005.
The data in this report are available in Haver's USECON database. The consensus expectation figure is from the Action Economics survey and is available in the AS1REPNA database.
| U.S. New Home Sales | Aug | Jul | Jun | Y/Y % | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total (SAAR, 000s) | 373 | 374 | 361 | 27.7 | 307 | 321 | 374 |
| Northeast | 36 | 30 | 16 | 56.5 | 21 | 31 | 31 |
| Midwest | 56 | 55 | 49 | 16.7 | 45 | 45 | 54 |
| South | 174 | 183 | 185 | 11.5 | 169 | 173 | 202 |
| West | 107 | 106 | 111 | 64.6 | 72 | 74 | 87 |
| Median Price (NSA, $) | $256,900 | $231,100 | $231,400 | 17.0 | 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.
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