Sales of new USA single-family homes unexpectedly fell in March, marking the third month in a row of declines, according to official data.
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The Commerce Department says new-home sales slipped 1.5 per cent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 511,000, down from 519,000 in February and 521,000 in January.
Looking past the core numbers, Trulia Chief Economist Ralph McLaughlin explained in his analysis that while new home sales in March were down month-over-month, the 12-month rolling total continues to looks solid.
“While new home sales have lost some luster in recent months, we believe they will re-accelerate as we head into (the) spring season”, said Gregory Daco, head of USA macroeconomics at Oxford Economics, a forecasting firm.
By region, home shoppers in the South were the most active in March, as more than 60%, or 314,000, of the total sales were made in this region.
“This reflects a steady increase in demand from homebuyers as well as increasing confidence of homebuilders”, he said. Year-over-year, however, sales were up 5.4 per cent. New single-family homes sales surged 18.5 percent in the Midwest and climbed 5.0 percent in the populous South. Sales plunged 23.6 percent in the West, reversing February’s 21.7 percent jump. “March home sales continued the inconsistent, up-and-down trend we’ve been seeing for months now: Existing sales were up, while new home sales were down, a pattern we have seen in 9 of the past 13 months”, Gudell said.
As shown in the interactive above, there has been a shift of focus from homes on the two extremes to medium-priced new homes.
Compared to the same month a year ago, sales were 5.4% higher. New-home sales are significantly below the half-century average of more than 650,000.
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“With continued improvement in the labor market leading to higher incomes, and borrowing costs that remain low, the fundamentals remain supportive”.
