New home sales at 16-year low

Government report shows sales of newly constructed homes fell 8.5% last month, while the median price drop was the biggest since 1970.

EMAIL  |   PRINT  |   SHARE  |   RSS
 
google my aol my msn my yahoo! netvibes
Paste this link into your favorite RSS desktop reader
See all CNNMoney.com RSS FEEDS (close)
By Ben Rooney, CNNMoney.com staff writer

Should the U.S. government step in to lower gas prices?
  • Yes
  • No

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- New home sales fell in March to the lowest level in more than 16 years, according to a key government report on the battered housing market released Wednesday.

March sales came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 526,000, the Census Bureau report showed, down 8.5% from a revised 575,000 in February and down 36% from a year earlier. It was the lowest annual rate since October 1991.

Economists were expecting new home sales to decline to 580,000 from the originally reported 590,000, according to estimates compiled by Briefing.com.

The median price of a new home sold in March was $227,600, down 13.3% from a year earlier.

The last time the median home price fell this sharply was July 1970, when it dropped 14.6%.

Thursday's report "paints the picture that the downturn in the housing market continues," said Scott Anderson, senior economist at Wells Fargo.

Despite a large cut in median home price the report showed an increase in the months of inventory.

The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of March was 468,000, which was down slightly from February's 471,000.

However, at the current sales rate, it would take 11 months to sell the supply of homes on the market at the end of March.

The months-of-supply number has not been this high since September 1981.

Given the large number of homes on the market and the sluggish sales pace, Anderson estimates that home sales are not likely to pick up for several more months.  To top of page

Features
They're hiring!These Fortune 100 employers have at least 350 openings each. What are they looking for in a new hire? More
If the Fortune 500 were a country...It would be the world's second-biggest economy. See how big companies' sales stack up against GDP over the past decade. More
Sponsored By:
10 of the most luxurious airline amenity kits When it comes to in-flight pampering, the amenity kits offered by these 10 airlines are the ultimate in luxury More
7 startups that want to improve your mental health From a text therapy platform to apps that push you reminders to breathe, these self-care startups offer help on a daily basis or in times of need. More
5 radical technologies that will change how you get to work From Uber's flying cars to the Hyperloop, these are some of the neatest transportation concepts in the works today. More

Sponsors

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.