New-Home Sales Rose For 3rd Straight Month

Sales of new single-family houses increased in February from a month earlier, the third straight monthly increase.

According to estimates released jointly Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, sales of new single‐family houses in February were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 640,000, up 1.1% from the revised January rate of 633,000, but down 19% year over year.

The January estimate was revised downward by 37,000 houses to 633,000, but that was still above the December estimate of 622,000.

February’s result fell below analysts’ expectations of a 1.6% increase. Nonetheless, it was the first time since 2020 that sales increased for three straight months.

Sales increased in two regions while falling in the other two. Sales of new homes rose 8.1% in the West and 3% in the South, while falling 1.4% in the Midwest and 40% in the Northeast.

After falling significantly in January, the median sales price of new houses sold in February rose 2.7% to $438,200, up from $426,500 in January and up 2.5% from $427,400 a year earlier. The median means half of the homes sold for more than the price and half sold for less.

Robert Dietz, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders, noted on Twitter that in February 2022 15% of sales were priced below $300,000, while last month it was now just 10% of sales.

Although sales increased again, the supply of houses for sale fell for the fourth straight month. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of February was 436,000, representing an 8.2-month supply at the current sales rate. That was down 0.7% from 439,000 in January but was up 10.1% from 396,000 a year earlier.

Dietz also noted that 15,000 sales involved homes that had not yet begun construction, the highest total since March 2022.