New home sales in the U.S. fell for the second straight month.

The U.S. Department of Commerce recently announced that new home sales in the United States in February was only 770,2000 units, which is 2% fall from January and 6.2% fall from February of 2021.

This was significantly lower than the expectations of experts such as The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) of 805,000 units. New home sales in the U.S. fell for the second straight month.

By region, starting with the 16.9% decline in the northeast, the midwest decreased by 25.7%, the south 10.3%, and the west 8.5%. The January figure was revised down from 801,000 to 788,000.

The median price of new homes sold in February was $400,600, down from $423,300 in January, but up more than 10% year-over-year. The average selling price was found to be $511,000.

The current inventory in February stood at 407,000 units. Considering the current sales trend, it reached 6.3 months, a slight increase from the previous month’s 6.1 months, reaching the highest level since 2008.

“The fact that the construction industry is increasing the number of starts despite rising mortgage rates, wages and material costs is proof that demand is being supported,” real estate economists said.

In fact, among new homes sold last month, only 10% of homes priced under $300,000 for first-time homebuyers or downsizing buyers decreased by 20% compared to the same period last year.

Author: MI Asian