New home sales were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 662,000 in February, down 0.3% compared with January but up 5.9% compared with February 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The median sales price of new home sold in February 2024 was $400,500. The average sales price was $485,000.
As of the end of the month there were about 463,000 new home available for sale in the U.S., about an 8.4-month supply at the current sales rate.
“While new home sales remained flat in February, our latest home builder surveys show increased levels of confidence driven by the ongoing lean levels of existing home inventory,” says Carl Harris, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), in a statement. “As interest rates subside over the course of 2024, additional home buyers will be priced into the market and new construction will be needed to meet this demand.”
“A slight uptick in mortgage rates held back the pace of new home sales in February,” adds Robert Dietz, chief economist for NAHB. “Our latest builder surveys show that roughly one-quarter of builders reported cutting home prices in March. The price cuts, in combination with building slightly smaller homes, can be seen in today’s data that show a 7.6 percent year-over-year decline for median new home prices.”
Photo: Alexander Andrews