New Home Sales Slide in March

The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development reported Monday morning that sales of new homes in March fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 511,000, a decrease of 1.5% from the revised February rate of 519,000 and an increase of 5.4% compared with the March 2015 rate of 485,000. The consensus estimate from a survey of economists expected a rate of around 522,000. The February rate was revised upward by 7,000.

At the peak in 2005, new home sales posted a seasonally adjusted annual rate of nearly 1.4 million.

The Census Bureau also reported that the median sales price for new homes sold in March fell by $13,400 from $301,400 in February to $288,000, and the average sales price rose by $7,300 to $356,200. At the end of March, the number of new homes for sale totaled 246,000 and represented a supply of 5.8 months at the current sales rate.

In March, 26% of the estimated 44,000 monthly sales were for homes priced at less than $300,000. The percentage is seven points higher than the February rate. Sales of homes priced between $300,000 and $399,999 fell by seven points to 17% of all sales. Sales of homes in the range of $400,000 to $499,999 fell from 15% of sales to 12%, and sales rose from 8% to 11% for homes sold in a range of $500,000 to $749,999. Home sales for properties priced above $750,000 accounted for 4% of all new home sales in March, up from 3% in February.