Despite rising interest rates and a shortage of available stock, seasonally adjusted sales of new single-family homes inched up in April.
About 454,000 new homes were sold last month, an increase of 2.3% compared to the 444,000 homes sold in March, according to estimates released today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. That's an increase of about 29% compared to April 2012, when 352,000 new homes were sold.
The median sales price of new houses sold in April was $271,600, while the average sales price was $330,800.
The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of April was 156,000, representing about 4.1 months of supply at the current sales rate.
As the market improves, the gap between new and existing home sales is narrowing. That's because after the housing bubble burst and the recession kicked into high gear, ‘distressed’ sales put a damper on new home sales. This gap is anticipated to close over the next several years – with some industry experts forecasting that new home sales will return to pre-recession levels within the next four years.