by Calculated Risk on 2/27/2008 10:40:00 AM

According to the Census Bureau report, New Home Sales in January were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 588 thousand. Sales for December were essentially unchanged.

Click on Graph for larger image.

Sales of new one-family houses in January 2008 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 588,000 ... This is 2.8 percent below the revised December rate of 605,000 and is 33.9 percent below the January 2007 estimate of 890,000.

The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of January was 482,000.

The 482,000 units of inventory is slightly below the levels of the last year.

Inventory numbers from the Census Bureau do not include cancellations - and cancellations are once again at record levels. Actual New Home inventories are probably much higher than reported - my estimate is about 100K higher.

This represents a supply of 9.9 months at the current sales rate.

This is another VERY weak report for New Home sales. More later today on New Home Sales.