But demand is still supressed by affordability issues
Sales of newly-built single-family homes gained in June according to new figures from the HUD and US Census Bureau.
The 7% gain to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 640,000 followed a downwardly-revised rate of 604,000 in May and was 4.5% higher than June 2018. Year-to-date, sales were up 2.2%.
"Though there is a clear demand for new homes, builders continue to wrestle with affordability headwinds, including shortages of buildable lots and skilled labor, that are constraining sales,” said Greg Ugalde, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).
Meanwhile, the median sales price of new houses sold in June 2019 was $310,400 – in line with a year earlier ($310,500) - and the average sales price was $368,600.
“The June figures are in line with our forecast predicting a modest 3.5 percent growth in new home sales for 2019, due largely to affordability concerns,” said Danushka Nanayakkara-Skillington, AVP for Forecasting and Analysis at NAHB.
There was 6.3 months’ supply of newly-built single-family homes in June.
Regionally, and on a year-over-year basis, new home sales are 19.4% higher in the West and 9.5% in the South but are down 50% in the Northeast and 17.6% in the Midwest.
