Dennis Norman
This morning the U.S. Department of Commerce released a report showing the sale of New Homes in June were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 384,000, an 11% increase across the US from May.
However, here in the Midwest the numbers were significantly better showing a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 73,000 new homes sales in June, a 43.1% increase over Mays rate of 51,000 homes. In addition, the Midwest was the only of region of the four in the U.S. that showed an increase in sales from the year prior. In the Midwest, June’s rate is 5.8% better than June, 2008’s rate of 69,000 home sales. The US market as a whole was down 21.3% from a year ago.
Median prices for new homes in the U.S. decreased from $221,600 in May to $206,200 for June. Homes in the $150,000 – $299,999 range continue to dominate sales with 56% of the sales for June falling in this price range. The Commerce Department does not publish median home prices or inventories for the regions so we can’t look at the Midwest alone.
Perhaps the best news in the report is on the inventory of new homes. Inventory declined again to 281,000 homes which represents an 8.8 month supply based upon current sales rate. This is the lowest inventory we have seen in a long time and is a very positive sign to me.
These figures are once again consistent with my earlier comments that I think the market is leveling off and perhaps is close to finding it’s bottom. As new home inventories continue to decline we should see more strength in sales numbers. For those agents out there sitting in displays I would love to hear your comments are what you are seeing traffic-wise and if what you saw an increase in June as the numbers indicate.
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