New-home sales in the US unexpectedly rose in March, reaching their highest level in a year, as prospective buyers turned to the new-home market due to the lack of inventory in existing homes.
Rising mortgage rates and dramatic increases to home prices led to a significant decline in housing affordability over the last two years, with homeowners facing the highest monthly payments in 15 years.
Existing home sales fell in March 2023, but there are indications that the housing market slump is nearing its end, with a potential impact on inventory and days on the market.
U.S. housing starts experienced a drop in March, primarily due to a decline in multifamily projects. However, single-family construction saw a notable increase, which could signal a potential boost in demand.
Despite the growth in the number of homes for sale, inventory remains constrained compared to pre-pandemic levels, affecting housing affordability.
Overall inflation as measure by the consumer price index is cooling, despite a lack of deceleration in its significantly-lagging and highest-weighted metric, rents. A strong signal that the Fed is winning its inflation battle.
Heatmap of U.S. national monthly home price appreciation based on the seasonally adjusted S&P Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index. The S&P Case-Schiller U.S. National Home Price Index is a composite of single-family home price indices for the nine U.S. Census divisions and is calculated monthly, and seeks to measure changes in the total value of all existing single-family housing stock.
Sales of new single-family houses in January 2023 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 670,000. This is 7.2 percent (+/- 20.4%)* above the revised December 2022 estimate of 625,000.
The median sales price of a new home fell 0.7% from a year earlier to $427,500, the first decline since August 2020. There were 439,000 new homes for sale as of the end
Today’s press release from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) showed existing-home sales falling for the twelfth consecutive month in January. Total existing-home sales decreased 0.7% from December 2022 to a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 4.00 million in January, which is a 36.9% decrease from January ’22. Although month-over-month sales were mixed among the four major U.S. regions, all regions saw year-over-year declines.
