The Commerce Department said new-home sales fell 11.5 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 468,000, ending a two-month streak of accelerating sales. The correction erased August’s status as the best month for new home sales in seven years, instead making it only the second-best month so far in 2015.
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While not a mega driver, the Federal Housing Finance Agency noted that home-price appreciation actually slowed in the month of August to just +0.3%, which is at the low-end of consensus expectations and well below the downwardly-revised 0.5% for the month of July.
The Bureau and HUD also found that the median sales price of new houses sold in September 2015 was $296,900, while the average sales price was $364,100.
In September, 51% of the estimated 36,000 monthly sales were for homes priced at less than $300,000. It’s up 14% compared with past year.
“What is occurring is the fact that in Lakewood Ranch as a whole, there is a lack of available resale inventory”, said Jimmy Stewart, the vice president of sales for Lakewood Ranch Communities.
The data “indicates the real issues that emerged late this summer in the new home market”, Smoke says. That three-month rate was the slowest pace since February 2014.
A sturdy housing market is supporting consumer spending through an increase in household wealth, which is helping to soften the blow on the economy from faltering global growth, a strong dollar and weak capital spending in the energy sector. The National Association of Realtors said last week that existing homes sold at a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 5.55 million, advancing 8.8 percent from a year ago. “The housing market, like the US economy, is chugging along”.
“When you take a step back and look at year-over-year growth, the overall housing picture looks promising despite September’s drop in new home sales”, says Quicken Loans vice president Bill Banfield.
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“Rising rents and flat wage growth make it hard for many to save for a downpayment, and the dearth of supply in affordable price ranges is limiting their options”. Still, supply remains less than half of what it was at the height of the housing boom.
