Sales of newly built, single-family homes in June fell 2.5% to 697,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate from a downwardly revised reading in May, according to newly released data by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. However, new home sales are up 23.8% from a year ago.
In addition to adjusting for seasonal effects, the June reading of 697,000 units is the number of homes that would sell if this pace continued for the next 12 months.
Year-to-year data
New single-family home inventory in June was 432,000, down 3.6% compared to a year ago. This represents a 7.4-month supply at the current building pace. A measure near a six-month supply is considered balanced. Of that total inventory, 67,000 were completed, ready-to-occupy homes, up 91.4% from a year ago; however, that inventory type remains just 15% of total inventory.
The median new home sale price in June was $415,400, down roughly 4% compared to a year ago.
Regionally, on a year-to-date basis, new home sales are up 4.7% in the Northeast and 3.2% in the South. New home sales are down 7.6% in the Midwest and 16.5% in the West.
NAHB’s take on the data
“Rising mortgage rates in June, coupled with elevated construction costs and supply chain issues for electrical transformers, acted as headwinds on the new home sales market,” says Alicia Huey, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders.
“Demand for new homes cooled in June primarily due to a more than quarter-point rise in mortgage rates over the previous month,” says Danushka Nanayakkara-Skillington, NAHB’s assistant vice president for forecasting and analysis. “However, the lack of existing inventory and the Federal Reserve nearing the end of its rate hikes signal that demand for new homes may rise in the coming quarters.”
