New Home Sales

New-Home Sales Are on Track for a 7 year High - But it's Still Not Enough to Meet Demand Source: Realtor.com Sales of new single-family houses rose last month to an annualized rate of 546,000, the Census Bureau(https://www.census.gov/construction/nrs/pdf/newresales.pdf) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development reported on Tuesday, an increase of 2% over April and the highest rate since February 2008. Despite the fast pace of sales, the press release reported only 206,000 new houses for sale (seasonally adjusted) at the end of May - a supply of just 4.5 months.  Six months is considered a healthy supply.  Meanwhile, the median sale price of new houses was $282,800 in May, and the average sale price was $337,000.  Those numbers were $285,60 and $323,500 respectively last May.  Back then, there was a 5.1-month supply. That's pretty good news for buyers.  "New home prices are influenced heavily by what builders build and offer," says Realtor.com chief economist, Jonathan Smoke.  "The lower price is evidence that they are starting to build more affordable homes in their mix."