Home Sales Tank; Inventories and Prices Surge

New homes sales in March were down 14.5rnpercent from sales in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 384,000.rn  The New Residential Sales report issuedrntoday by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and UrbanrnDevelopment February revised February sales numbers to 449,000 from thernoriginal report of 411,000.   March 2014 salesrnwere 13.3 percent lower than the estimated 443,000 new home sales in Marchrn2013.  </p

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On a non-seasonally adjusted basis anrnestimated 36,000 new homes were sold in March compared to 37,000 in Februaryrnand 41,000 in March 2013.</p

Sales in all four regions were alsornlower than a year earlier and only the Northeast saw an improvement on a monthly basis, with sales risingrn12.5 percent from February.  Annual sales fell 22.9 percent in thatrnregion.  Sales in the Midwest were down 21.5rnpercent from February and 17.7 percent compared to a year earlier.  In the South sales fell 14.4 percent for thernmonth and 3.8 percent on an annual basis, and in the West new home salesrndecreased 16.7 percent and 27.9 percent for the two periods respectively.</p

An estimated 193,000 new homes werernavailable for sale at the end of March, a 6.0 month supply.  In February the 187,000 homes in therninventory constituted a 5.0 month supply at the then current rate ofrnsales.  Inventories have hovered in thern189,000 range since the beginning of the year but have improved from a yearrnearlier when 154,000 homes were available for sale, a 4.2 month supply.</p

The median price of a home sold in Marchrnreached a record $290,000.  The and the average price was $334,200.  In March 2013 the median was $257,500 and thernaverage was $300,200.

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