New home sales take off in March
The housing market has thrown down another sign of strength.
Sales of new single-family houses in March surged ahead 20.7 % to a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.021 million according to estimates released today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The revised February estimate was a rate of 846,000.
The latest report is also 66.8% above the March 2020 estimate of 612,000 units.
The median sales price of new houses sold in March 2021 fell 4.4% to $330,800 from $345,900 in the previous month. Compared to March 2020, the median price increased 0.8%.
The average sales price for March was $397,800, edging up just 0.9% from an average price of $394,300 in February. But the average new single-family home price is up about 6% compared to a year ago.
The seasonally-adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of March was 307,000. This represents a supply of 3.6 months at the current sales rate. Supply sat at 4.4 months in February and 6.5 months a year ago.
Here’s how new single-family home sales performed on a regional basis:
- In the Northeast, sales increased 20% on a month-over-month basis and soared by 108.7% on a year-over-year basis.
- In the Midwest, sales are up 30.7% for March and shot up 78.4% from March 2020.
- In the South, sales jumped 40.2% and roared by 90.1% compared to sales in March of last year.
- In the West, new home sales slumped 30% in March and are down 2% compared to a year ago.
The full March 2021 Monthly New Residential Sales report is available here.