Sales of newly built, single-family homes in February edged 0.3% lower to a 662,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate, according to data by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. The pace of new home sales in February is up 5.9% from a year earlier.
Key takeaways
- New single-family home inventory in February remained elevated at a level of 463,000, up 1.3% from January.
- Mortgage rates averaged 6.78% in February compared to 6.64% in January, according to Freddie Mac.
- The median new home sale price in February was $400,500, edging down 3.5% from January, and down 7.6% compared to a year ago.
- Regionally, on a year-to-date basis, new home sales are up 47.0% in the Northeast, 29.7% in the Midwest and 41.0% in the West. New home sales are down 13.4% in the South.
NAHB's take on the data
“A slight uptick in mortgage rates held back the pace of new home sales in February,” says National Association of Home Builders Chief Economist Robert Dietz. “Our latest builder surveys show that roughly one-quarter of builders reported cutting home prices in March. The price cuts, in combination with building slightly smaller homes, can be seen in today’s data that show a 7.6% year-over-year decline for median new home prices.”
