U.S. New Home Sales Rise for the Second Straight Month in November
Summary
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640,000 units SAAR in Nov., a three-month high; downward revisions to Oct. and Sept.
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Month-on-month sales up in the West and the Midwest but down in the Northeast and the South.
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Median sales price declines following two consecutive m/m rises.
New single-family home sales rose 5.8% m/m (-15.3% y/y) to 640,000 units at an annual rate in November after an 8.2% rise to 605,000 in October (632,000 initially) and a 13.5% decrease to 559,000 in September (588,000 previously), according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The November reading was the highest since August. Sales have fallen 38.2% from their peak of 1.036 million in August 2020. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected 600,000 sales in November.
By region, sales in November reflected varied movements in the major regions. Sales in the West advanced 27.6% (-26.6% y/y) to 171,000 in November, the fourth m/m gain in five months to the highest level since May, on top of a 7.2% rise to 134,000 in October. Sales in the Midwest recovered 21.3% (3.6% y/y) to 57,000, the third m/m increase in four months, following a 30.9% drop to 47,000. In contrast, sales in the Northeast slid 8.5% (+26.5% y/y) to 43,000, the first m/m slide since June, after a 42.4% jump to 47,000. Sales in the South fell 2.1% (-15.0% y/y) to 369,000, the second m/m fall in three months, after a 13.2% increase to 377,000.
The median price of a new home declined 2.8% (+9.5% y/y) to $471,200 in November, the first m/m drop since August, following a 6.0% gain to $484,700 in October. The average sales price of a new home rose 1.9% (9.0% y/y) to $543,600, the highest since July, after a 1.6% October rebound to $533,400. These sales price data are not seasonally adjusted.
The number of unsold new homes on the market decreased 1.7% (+18.2% y/y) to a seasonally adjusted 461,000 in November, the lowest level since August, after a 1.3% increase to 469,000 in October; these figures were up from 390,000 last November and the recent low of 281,000 in October 2020. The seasonally adjusted supply of new homes for sale declined to 8.6 months in November, a three-month low, from 9.3 months in October, but it was up from 6.2 months last November and a record-low of 3.3 months in August 2020. The median number of months a new home stayed on the market rose to 1.9 months in November from 1.5 months in October; these readings were down from 2.9 months last November and a high of 5.1 months in March 2021. These figures date back to January 1975.
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.
Winnie Tapasanun
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Winnie Tapasanun has been working for Haver Analytics since 2013. She has ~20 years of working in the financial services industry. As Vice President and Economic Analyst at Globicus International, Inc., a New York-based company specializing in macroeconomics and financial markets, Winnie oversaw the company’s business operations, managed financial and economic data, and wrote daily reports on macroeconomics and financial markets. Prior to working at Globicus, she was Investment Promotion Officer at the New York Office of the Thailand Board of Investment (BOI) where she wrote monthly reports on the U.S. economic outlook, wrote reports on the outlook of key U.S. industries, and assisted investors on doing business and investment in Thailand. Prior to joining the BOI, she was Adjunct Professor teaching International Political Economy/International Relations at the City College of New York. Prior to her teaching experience at the CCNY, Winnie successfully completed internships at the United Nations. Winnie holds an MA Degree from Long Island University, New York. She also did graduate studies at Columbia University in the City of New York and doctoral requirements at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Her areas of specialization are international political economy, macroeconomics, financial markets, political economy, international relations, and business development/business strategy. Her regional specialization includes, but not limited to, Southeast Asia and East Asia. Winnie is bilingual in English and Thai with competency in French. She loves to travel (~30 countries) to better understand each country’s unique economy, fascinating culture and people as well as the global economy as a whole.
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