Contracts for new single-family home sales in the US declined 3.4 per cent in August to a 560,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate, according to estimates from the joint data release of HUD and the Census Bureau Tuesday. This was the second month of decline for the pace of new home sales and the weakest rate since December of last year.
The three-month moving average of new home sales also weakened to 585,000, the lowest since January of this year.
US New Home Sales: August 2017
Inventory growth of US new homes for sale continued in August, rising to 284,000 homes, said HUD and the Census Bureau. The current months’ supply stands at 6.1, the highest since July 2014.
Census inventory estimates show a growing share of homes listed for sale that have not begun construction. On a year-over-year not seasonally adjusted basis, homes under construction in inventory have increased by 17 per cent over the last year. Completed, ready-to-occupy homes (there are only 62,000) are up 7 per cent since August 2016. In contrast, homes not-yet-started listed in inventory have increased 43 per cent, from 40,000 in August of 2016 to 57,000 last month.
Median new home sales price stands at US$300,200, just slightly higher than a year ago. Average home price stands at US$368,100. The agencies said they continue to expect a broadening of the new home inventory base and slight declines in median new home size.