(January 11, 2013) The nation’s new home builders are poised to have their best year since 2009 as new home sales increased by over four percent from October to November and are on pace to finish at least 20 percent higher than last year according to the latest housing data released by the Census Bureau.
Monthly sales of new single-family homes increased 4.4 percent in November to a seasonally adjusted rate of 377,000, up from a revised sales rate of 361,000 in October. On an unadjusted basis, new home sales fell 6.9 percent from the previous month.
The seasonally adjusted rate of sales in November was 15.3 percent higher than the estimated sales rate of 327,000 units in November of 2011. Sales were also 17.4 percent higher than in November of last year on an unadjusted basis. Through the end of November, new home sales are 20.1 percent higher than at the same time last year.
The median sales price of the new homes sold in November was $246,200, which was up from a revised $237,500 in October. The average sales price for a new home in November was $299,700, up from a revised $272,200 in October.
Sixty-eight percent of the new single-family homes sold in November were under $300,000, down from 69 percent in October.
In November of last year, the median sales price of a new home was 13.0 percent lower at $214,300, while the average sales price was 16.6 percent lower at $250,000.
Two of the four national regions posted increases in seasonally adjusted monthly sales led by a 21.1 percent gain in the South, followed by a gain of 12.5 percent in the Northeast.
The West reported the largest decline of 17.8 percent while the Midwest posted a decline in sales of 12.5 percent.
Compared to a year ago, three of the four regions showed improvement with the Northeast posting the largest increase of 68.8 percent followed by the South at 17.2 percent and the West at 13.7 percent.
The Midwest suffered the only year-over-year decline with sales falling by 5.8 percent from the previous year..
Inventory of new single-family homes increased to a seasonally adjusted 149,000 homes available for sale, which translates into a 4.7 months supply of inventory, down slightly from a revised 4.9 months supply the previous month.
Tags: Census Bureau, new home sales, single-family homes, median sales price, average sales price
Source:
Census Bureau
Reported by Chris Moore
