For the third month straight, new-home sales slipped, according to the Commerce Department’s December report.
The Breakdown
New-Home Sales (Annual Rate): 694,000
- -0.4 percent month-over-month (Dec. 2019/Nov. 2019)
- +23 percent year-over-year (Dec. 2019/Dec. 2018)
For-Sale Inventory:Â 327,000
Months’ Supply: 5.7
Average Price:Â $384,500
Median Price:Â $331,400
What the Industry’s Saying
“New-home sales were effectively flat in December, after downward revisions for prior months. However, the sales pace for newly built single-family homes ended 2019 with a gain of 10 percent, increasing to a total of 681,000. This marks 2019 as the best year for new-home sales since the Great Recession.” – Robert Dietz, Chief Economist, National Association of Home Builders
“These numbers could serve as a bit of a wake-up call for builders that have grown increasingly confident in the demand for the homes they’ve been putting up with growing vigor since the summer. After revisions, this series has now fallen month-over-month in each of the past three months. Still, with overall inventory as scarce as it is currently, it’s clear that more construction is desperately needed.” – Matthew Speakman, Economist, Zillow
