New home sales fall 15.4%
The COVID-19 crisis continues to take a hit on residential construction.
Sales of new single‐family houses fell 15.4% in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 627,000 from the revised February rate of 741,000, the Department of Commerce reported.
The latest Monthly New Residential Sales report is also 9.5% below the March 2019 estimate of 693,000.
“Despite the sharp decline in new home sales this month, the first quarter of 2020 was actually 6.7% higher than the same period last year, reflecting a strong pace prior to the virus outbreak,” said Dean Mon, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). “While we expect to see some further impacts to the industry, we remain confident that housing will be a sector that will help lead the economic recovery.”
The median price of homes sold in March was $321,400, declining 2.6% from the median February price of $330,100. The average price was $375,300 for March, falling more than 3% from the previous month’s average price of $387,200.
The seasonally‐adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of March was 333,000. This represents a supply of 6.4 months at the current sales rate.
“The drop in March sales reflects buyer concerns over the virus, and was primarily concentrated in the hardest hit regions of the Northeast and West,” said NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz. “The weakening in sales is in line with our builder surveys that showed dramatic declines in buyer traffic and builder confidence in April. We expect further slowing of the pace of new home sales in April, as jobless claims continue to rise, before stabilizing later this year.”
Here’s how March new homes sales break down by region:
The full Monthly New Residential Sales Report for March 2020 is available here.
Sales of new single‐family houses fell 15.4% in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 627,000 from the revised February rate of 741,000, the Department of Commerce reported.
The latest Monthly New Residential Sales report is also 9.5% below the March 2019 estimate of 693,000.
“Despite the sharp decline in new home sales this month, the first quarter of 2020 was actually 6.7% higher than the same period last year, reflecting a strong pace prior to the virus outbreak,” said Dean Mon, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). “While we expect to see some further impacts to the industry, we remain confident that housing will be a sector that will help lead the economic recovery.”
The median price of homes sold in March was $321,400, declining 2.6% from the median February price of $330,100. The average price was $375,300 for March, falling more than 3% from the previous month’s average price of $387,200.
The seasonally‐adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of March was 333,000. This represents a supply of 6.4 months at the current sales rate.
“The drop in March sales reflects buyer concerns over the virus, and was primarily concentrated in the hardest hit regions of the Northeast and West,” said NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz. “The weakening in sales is in line with our builder surveys that showed dramatic declines in buyer traffic and builder confidence in April. We expect further slowing of the pace of new home sales in April, as jobless claims continue to rise, before stabilizing later this year.”
Here’s how March new homes sales break down by region:
- Sales in the Northeast plummeted 41.5% month-over-month and fell 4% year-over-year.
- Sales in the Midwest declined 8.1% month-over-month and are down 9.2% year-over-year.
- Sales in the South edged downward 0.8% month-over-month and declined 1.3% year-over-year.
- Sales in the West tumbled 38.5% month-over-month and are down 30.8% year-over-year.
The full Monthly New Residential Sales Report for March 2020 is available here.