June 25, 2009
New-Home Sales Virtually Flat In May; Down 32.8% from May 2008
By David M. Kinchen
Huntingtonnews.net Real Estate Writer
Sales of new one-family houses in May 2009 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 342,000, according to estimates released jointly Wednesday, June 24, 2009 by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 0.6 percent below the revised April rate of 344,000 and is 32.8 percent below the May 2008 estimate of 509,000.
The median sales price of new houses sold in May 2009 was $221,600; the average sales price was $274,300. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of May was 292,000. This represents a supply of 10.2 months at the current sales rate.
“In the midst of the prime home buying season, builders report that a number of factors are limiting new-home sales. These include consumer concerns about job security, potential buyers’ inability to sell their existing homes, and problems with appraisals coming in too low,” said Joe Robson, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder from Tulsa, Okla. “The latter issue is directly related to the use of distressed properties (foreclosures and short sales) as comps, which disproportionately impacts assessed values of nearby homes.”
“Today’s report provides further evidence that the recovery is going to be a slow one as the housing market continues to bump along, trying to find a bottom,” added NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. “The good news is that, even as the sales pace leveled in May, inventories of unsold new homes continued to shrink for a 25th consecutive month – a trend that is helping bring supply and demand into better alignment and thereby setting the stage for an eventual market recovery.”
Regionally, the decline in new-home sales was entirely focused on the South, where sales fell 8.5 percent for the month. Meanwhile, sales of new homes gained 1.3 percent in the West and posted double-digit gains of 28.6 percent and 18.6 percent in the Northeast and Midwest, respectively.
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New-Home Sales Virtually Flat In May; Down 32.8% from May 2008
By David M. Kinchen
Huntingtonnews.net Real Estate Writer
Sales of new one-family houses in May 2009 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 342,000, according to estimates released jointly Wednesday, June 24, 2009 by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 0.6 percent below the revised April rate of 344,000 and is 32.8 percent below the May 2008 estimate of 509,000.
The median sales price of new houses sold in May 2009 was $221,600; the average sales price was $274,300. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of May was 292,000. This represents a supply of 10.2 months at the current sales rate.
“In the midst of the prime home buying season, builders report that a number of factors are limiting new-home sales. These include consumer concerns about job security, potential buyers’ inability to sell their existing homes, and problems with appraisals coming in too low,” said Joe Robson, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder from Tulsa, Okla. “The latter issue is directly related to the use of distressed properties (foreclosures and short sales) as comps, which disproportionately impacts assessed values of nearby homes.”
“Today’s report provides further evidence that the recovery is going to be a slow one as the housing market continues to bump along, trying to find a bottom,” added NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. “The good news is that, even as the sales pace leveled in May, inventories of unsold new homes continued to shrink for a 25th consecutive month – a trend that is helping bring supply and demand into better alignment and thereby setting the stage for an eventual market recovery.”
Regionally, the decline in new-home sales was entirely focused on the South, where sales fell 8.5 percent for the month. Meanwhile, sales of new homes gained 1.3 percent in the West and posted double-digit gains of 28.6 percent and 18.6 percent in the Northeast and Midwest, respectively.
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