February New Home Sales Drop 2% from January

Sales of new single‐family houses in February 2022 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 772,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 2.0% below the revised January rate of 788,000 and is 6.2% below the February 2021 estimate of 823,000.

The average sales price was $511,000, which is up from January’s average of $494,000. A year ago the average stood at $407,500.

The median sales price of new houses sold in February 2022 was $400,600, according to the report. The median sales price in January was $427,400.

Those numbers present concerns about access to housing. “Affordability is a growing challenge as higher new-home prices and rising rates may be pricing out some buyers. One year ago, 31% of new home sales were priced below $300,000. In February 2022, only 18% of new home sales were priced below $300,000,” said First American Deputy Chief Economist Odeta Kushi.

There were wide regional disparities in data. The Northeast part of the country bucked the national housing sales trend with a 59.3% increase from January and a 12-month increase of 7.5%. Housing sales in the West were hardest hit with a 13% drop from January. The Midwest showed the largest year-over-year drop from February 2021 at 19.2%

The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of February was 407,000. This represents a supply of 6.3 months at the current sales rate, the report said.