New Home sales in May, a small % of overall sales, totaled 369k annualized, 22k more than expected, up from 343k in April and the most since April ’10. Months supply fell to 4.7 from 5.0 as the number of homes for sale rose just 1k. This inventory to sales ratio is now at the lowest since Oct ’05. Sales rose in the Northeast and South but fell in the Midwest and West. The median home price rose 5.6% y/o/y but fell for a 3rd month sequentially. Bottom line, after bottoming at 273k in Feb ’11, down from 1.389mm in July ’05, new home sales continue their bottoming process at near the lowest level since at least the early 1960’s. A sharp recovery though from this bottoming is a different story and patience will have to endure for reasons we’re all well aware of still.
