by Calculated Risk on 12/23/2005 10:11:00 AM

According to the Census Bureau report, New Home Sales in November were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.245 million vs. market expectations of 1.30 million. October's record sales were revised down slightly to 1.404 million from 1.424 million.


Click on Graph for larger image.

NOTE: The graph starts at 700 thousand units per month to better show monthly variation.



The Not Seasonally Adjusted monthly rate was 85,000 New Homes sold, down from a revised 110,000 in October.

On a year over year basis, November 2005 sales were 1% higher than November 2004.



The median and average sales prices are trending down.

The median sales price of new houses sold in November 2005 was $225,200; the average sales price was $283,300.



The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of November was 503,000. This represents a supply of 4.9 months at the current sales rate.

The 503,000 units of inventory is the all time record for new houses for sale. On a months of supply basis, inventory is above the level of recent years.

This report is still reasonably strong.