This increase was welcomed by financial markets but is likely a seasonal effect since sales of new homes were down 41 percent from a year ago. February's numbers were the second worst on record, surpassed only by January's annual sales rate of 322,000 homes.
Given the current sales rate, the supply of new homes would take 12.2 months to clear, compared with 12.9 months in January and 9.7 months a year ago. A six-month supply of homes is considered a more normal balance between supply and demand.
Sales of exiting homes rose 5.1 percent from January to February, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.72 million units, the National Association of Realtors reported Monday.
The inventory of existing January homes for sale grew by 5.2 percent, to 3.8 million, leaving the supply of homes unchanged from January at 9.7 months but down from a peak of 11.2 months in July.
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6 Comments on New Home Sales Climb
thanks for putting it together so concisely!
Prices also continued to fall during this time period meaning that the majority of homes purchased were foreclosures. Not that that's a surprise in this day in age.
Thanks for posting this up Kim. This is some good news I am sure everyone has been waiting for.
With sales so slow I guess the 4.7% of nuthin is still better than nuthin.
It takes time to make money. Keep on Blogging.
Maybe 10% next month
Good luck to you in 2009
Karina
Yes Kim, but home prices jump EVERY febuary when compared to January. This is just a buying trend that happens every single year. Means nothing.
I suppose it's just a matter of how we view the report. "New home sales climb," certainly sounds good. "February sales the worst for that month on record," still sounds a bit grim. Job growth would be a much more positive report that would get all home sales moving. Hopefully I'll see it before I retire.