Global| Jan 25 2018U.S. New Home Sales Drop Back in December
Summary
Sales of new single-family homes fell 9.3% (14.1% y/y) to 625,000 (SAAR) in December; November's sales were 689,000, revised down from 733,000 reported initially. Expectations in the Action Economics Forecast Survey had been for [...]
Sales of new single-family homes fell 9.3% (14.1% y/y) to 625,000 (SAAR) in December; November's sales were 689,000, revised down from 733,000 reported initially. Expectations in the Action Economics Forecast Survey had been for 680,000 sales. Sales for all of 2017 totaled 608,000, up 8.4% from 2016.
The median price of a new home was $335,400 in December, up a mere 0.1% (2.6% y/y) from November's revised $334,900; that earlier figure was originally estimated at $318,700. The average price of a new home rose 4.0% to $398,900 (+4.3% y/y), reversing a November decline.
New home sales decreased in all four regions of the country in December. In the Northeast, they were off just 1,000 to 41,000 (+10.8% y/y). But the other three areas had remarkably similar declines very close to 10%. Indeed, in the Midwest, it was exactly 10.0%, as December sales were 63,000 (+3.1% y/y), down from 70,000 the month before. Sales in the South were 331,000, off 9.8% (+15.7% y/y) from November's 367,000. And in the West, sales were 190,000, down 9.5% (+18.8% y/y) from November's 210,000.
With the December dip in sales, the months' supply of homes on the market rose to 5.7 from 4.9 in November. The December amount was, however, equal to the average of the prior four months. The median number of months a new home was on the market was still low at 3.2, and it was equal to the average of those monthly medians for the entire 2017 year.
The data in this report are available in Haver's USECON database. The consensus expectation figure from Action Economics is available in the AS1REPNA database.
| U.S. New Single-Family Home Sales (SAAR, 000s) | Dec | Nov | Oct | Dec Y/Y % | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 625 | 689 | 599 | 14.1 | 608 | 561 | 503 |
| Northeast | 41 | 42 | 40 | 10.8 | 40 | 32 | 25 |
| Midwest | 63 | 70 | 69 | -3.1 | 71 | 69 | 61 |
| South | 331 | 367 | 344 | 15.7 | 325 | 318 | 286 |
| West | 190 | 210 | 146 | 18.8 | 162 | 142 | 130 |
| Median Price (NSA, $) | 335,400 | 334,900 | 318,700 | 2.6 | 321,100 | 307,800 | 294,200 |
Carol Stone, CBE
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Carol Stone, CBE came to Haver Analytics in 2003 following more than 35 years as a financial market economist at major Wall Street financial institutions, most especially Merrill Lynch and Nomura Securities. She has broad experience in analysis and forecasting of flow-of-funds accounts, the federal budget and Federal Reserve operations. At Nomura Securites, among other duties, she developed various indicator forecasting tools and edited a daily global publication produced in London and New York for readers in Tokyo. At Haver Analytics, Carol is a member of the Research Department, aiding database managers with research and documentation efforts, as well as posting commentary on select economic reports. In addition, she conducts Ways-of-the-World, a blog on economic issues for an Episcopal-Church-affiliated website, The Geranium Farm. During her career, Carol served as an officer of the Money Marketeers and the Downtown Economists Club. She has a PhD from NYU's Stern School of Business. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, and has a weekend home on Long Island.
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