New home sales figures bounced higher again in Marc h, outperforming February sales by 9.6 percent. The U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development said newly constructed single-family homes sold at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 683,000 units during the month compared to a revised 623,000-unit pace in February.
That number had originally been estimated at 640,000. March sales were 3.4 percent below those in March 2022. Sales figures were volatile during the first quarter . The initial January report estimated a 7.5 percent surge to 670,000 units although two subsequent revisions brought it down to 648,000. February’s sales represented a further 3.9 percent decline from that number.
Analysts for both Econoday and Trading Economics had predicted sales would be at the 630,000 level. This would have been only a 1.1 percent improvement over the prior month. On an unadjusted basis, sales were estimated at 66,000 for the month.
The February total was 57,000. Sales during the first three months of the year lagged those of a year earlier by 13.9 percent. Year-to-date sales total 180,000 units compared to 209,000 units in 2022. At the end of the reporting period, there were an estimated 432,000 single-family homes available for sale. At the current sales pace, this represents a 7.6-month supply, down from 8.4 months in February. Over the last year, the available inventory has averaged 448,500 units.
