(April 24, 2009 Release)
Highlights
• New home sales fell a modest 0.6 percent in February to 356,000 annualized units.
• The small drop in sales was better than anticipated, but varied greatly by region. The West experienced a substantial 15.1 increase in new home sales , while the South recorded no change in sales and the Northeast and Midwest experienced 7.8 and 32.1 percent losses in sales from a month earlier.
• The months supply dropped to 10.7 in March from 11.2 in February, but remains at very excessive levels.
• The median new home sales price was down 12 percent year over year.
| New Home Sales, Mil., SAAR | ||||
| Mar 09 | Feb 09 | 3 mo Avg. | 1 yr ago | |
| United States | 0.36 | 0.36 | 0.35 | 0.51 |
| % change | -0.6 | 8.2 | ||
| Northeast | 0.02 | 0.03 | 0.03 | 0.03 |
| % change | -32.1 | -6.7 | ||
| Midwest | 0.05 | 0.05 | 0.05 | 0.07 |
| % change | -7.8 | 0.0 | ||
| South | 0.21 | 0.2 | 0.20 | 0.29 |
| % change | 0.0 | 11.4 | ||
| West | 0.08 | 0.07 | 0.07 | 0.12 |
| % change | 15.1 | 12.3 | ||
| Months’ Supply | 10.7 | 11.2 | 11.5 | 11.2 |
| New Median Home Price, $ | 204,218 | 202,095 | 204,820 | 201,400 |
| % change | 1.05 | -2.91 | ||
Source: Census Bureau
Analysis
The slight decline in new home sales was welcome news for the nation’s housing sector but we are reminded that a pace of 356,000 is close to its cyclical low of 320,000 posted in January. All three housing measures-housing starts, existing home sales and new home sales are bouncing slightly upward from their January cyclical lows, suggesting that the housing markets may be nearing a bottom.
However, the February pace of new home sales remains very weak and the supply of new homes remains very excessive. It will take several more months of positive news in the major housing measures before we can claim that a housing recovery is in sight.
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