New Home Sales Plunge 33%

June 23, 2010 10:20am by Barry Ritholtz

Sales of new homes fell 33% in May 2010.

With the expiration of the artificial government demand created by the tax cut left little doubt that new home construction is in for a challenging few quarters.

The caveat: This data series is notoriously noisy, and you are must better off using a 3 month moving average than read too much into any single month.

Highlights:

• Sales fell 32.7% below the April 2010 and were off 18.3% below the May 2009.

• Median sales price decreased 9.6% from May 2009 to $200,900.

• Purchases dropped in all four U.S. regions last month.

• A record 53% sales drop occurred in the West.

• Supply of homes jumped to 8.5 month’s worth, up from 5.8 months in April.

Note that May is usually an improved month versus April.

New Home Sales May 2010, NSA

Chart courtesy of Calculated Risk

Previously:
New Home Sales Data: Don’t rely On It Either (November 30th, 2005)
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2005/11/new-home-sales-data-dont-rely-on-it-either/

Home Builders Sell Signals (June 21, 2010)
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/06/home-builders-sell-signals/

Source:
NEW RESIDENTIAL SALES IN MAY 2010
Department of Commerce, Manufacturing and Construction Division
http://www.census.gov/const/newressales.pdf

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