by Calculated Risk on 4/26/2006 10:01:00 AM

According to the Census Bureau report, New Home Sales in March were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.213 million. February's sales were revised down slightly to 1.066 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 119,000 New Homes sold. There were 127,000 New Homes sold in March 2005.

On a year over year basis, March 2006 sales were 7.2% lower than March 2005.



The median and average sales prices declined.

The median sales price of new houses sold in March 2006 was $224,200; the average sales price was $279,100.



The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of March was 555,000. This represents a supply of 5.5 months at the current sales rate.

The 555,000 units of inventory is another all time record for new houses for sale. On a months of supply basis, inventory is significantly above the level of recent years.

Although sales bounced back in March from the February lows, this report shows that the housing market continues to slow down.