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The Week Ahead: Will New Year Bring Increased Sales?

The U.S. Census Bureau will release it’s latest new home sales data on Monday following December's 1.3% monthly increase. 

The Bureau reported in December 2019 that new home sales were 16.9% above November 2018 numbers. An estimated 719,000 homes were sold during the month.

The median sales price for new homes sold in November 2019 was $330,800. New homes had an average sales price of $388,200. For-sale inventory at the end of November was 323,000, which is a 5.4-months’ supply. 

New-home sales in the Northeast saw the largest increase from October, rising 52.4%. The West reported a 7.5% increase, with the Midwest was unchanged from the prior month. The South was the only region to see negative growth from October as new-home sales fell 4.1%. 

The West was the nation’s only region to post a year-over-year decline in new-home sales at -1.4%. 

The Census Bureau reported that 25% of new homes were priced between $300,000 and $399,000, and a combined 61% of homes were above $300,000. A combined 38% of new homes were priced under $300,000.  

This report comes just a few days after the National Association of Realtors found existing home sales fell 1.7% from October in November to a rate of 5.35 million. Sales are still up by 2.7% when compared to November 2018. 

Lawrence Yun, NAR’s Chief Economist, said the decline in sales for the month is not worrisome. 

“Sales will be choppy when inventory levels are low, but the economy is otherwise performing very well with more than 2 million job gains in the past year,” Yun said. 

Inventory at the end of November was 1.64 million units—down 7.3% from October and 5.7% from November 2018. Unsold inventory is currently at a 3.7-month supply, which is down from 3.9 months in October and 4 months last November.  The volume of unsold inventory has declined for five consecutive months.

 

Here's what else is happening in The Week Ahead:

Case-Schiller Home Price Index (January 28) 

NAR Pending Home Sales Index (January 29) 

FOMC Announcement (January 29) 

About Author: Mike Albanese

A graduate of the University of Alabama, Mike Albanese has worked for news publications since 2011 in Texas and Colorado. He has built a portfolio of more than 1,000 articles, covering city government, police and crime, business, sports, and is experienced in crafting engaging features and enterprise pieces. He spent time as the sports editor for the "Pilot Point Post-Signal," and has covered the DFW Metroplex for several years. He has also assisted with sports coverage and editing duties with the "Dallas Morning News" and "Denton Record-Chronicle" over the past several years.
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