Get Our Email Newsletter

New home sales down in July 

housing-production

WASHINGTON — Sales of newly built, single-family homes inched down 1.7% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 627,000 units after an upwardly revised June report, according to newly released data by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. On a year-to-date basis, sales are up 7.2% from this time last year.

“A lack of overall housing inventory is pushing up home prices, which is hurting affordability and causing prospective buyers to delay making a home purchase,” said Randy Noel, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a custom home builder from LaPlace, La.

LBM Resources

White Paper: How to Know When You’ve Outgrown Your Current Software Solution

  How to Know When You’ve Outgrown Your Current Software Solution If you’ve started to think your lumber and building materials (LBM) supply business could be...

“Although this month marks the lowest sales pace since last October, we continue to see solid housing demand due to economic strengthening and positive demographic tailwinds,” said NAHB Senior Economist Danushka Nanayakkara-Skillington. “Builders need to manage rising construction costs to keep their homes competitively priced for the newcomers to the housing market.”

A new home sale occurs when a sales contract is signed or a deposit is accepted. The home can be in any stage of construction: not yet started, under construction or completed. In addition to adjusting for seasonal effects, the July reading of 627,000 units is the number of homes that would sell if this pace continued for the next 12 months.

The inventory of new homes for sale was 309,000 in July, which is a 5.9-month supply at the current sales pace. The median sales price rose to $328,700.

- Advertisement -

Regionally, new home sales rose 10.9% in the West and 9.9% in the Midwest. Sales fell 3.3% in the South and 52.3% in the Northeast. Year-to-date, sales in the Northeast are down 14.5% as that region deals with impacts from tax reform and persistent affordability issues.

Get our free newsletter

Join thousands of other lumber and building material industry leaders and keep up with the companies, people, products and issues shaping the industry.

What's New

Digital Partners

Become a digital partner ...

Sales Comp Study

Download this 55-page, in-depth study by LBM Journal of industry trends in sales force compensation and benefits. See how your organization stacks up.

Webinars

- Advertisement -

White Papers

View all ...

- Advertisement -

Partner Content

View all ...

- Advertisement -