New home sales last year soared to the highest level in a decade. In stark contrast to existing home sales, the inventory of new homes for sale was the highest in eight years.
The sale of newly built single-family houses for all of 2017 amounted to 608,000 properties — the strongest year since 2007 when the total was 775,000.
During 2016, the sale of new U.S. residential properties
worked out to a downwardly revised 561,000 — at the time also the most new home sales since 2007.
Last year’s data was jointly reported Thursday by the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
New home sales in 2017 totaled 40,000 in the Northeast, soaring from the preceding year by 24 percent — the most of any region. Sales jumped 14 percent in the West to 162,000, while they were up 5 percent in the South to 335,000, and 2 percent higher in the Midwest to 71,000.
The median U.S. new home sales price was $321,100 in 2017, more than $307,800 a year earlier. The average sales price rose to $382,000 from $360,000 in 2016.
During just December 2017, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of new U.S. home sales was 625,000, sinking 9 percent from
the downwardly revised level the prior month — though November was a 10-year high. But last month’s rate increased 14 percent from a year prior.
“Some moderation in sales was expected this month after a strong November reading,” National Association of Home Builders Senior Economist Michael Neal said in a statement.
NAHB Chairman Randy Noel noted that despite the year-end slump, “The number of consumers planning to buy a new home in the near future is trending upward.”
In the Midwest, sales plunged from November by 10 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 63,000, giving the region the largest month-over-month decline. The rate was down 9.8 percent to 331,000 in the South, while if tumbled 9.5 percent to 190,000 in the West, and fell 2 percent to 41,000 in the Northeast.
As of year-end 2017, there were a seasonally adjusted 295,000 new U.S. homes for sale, leaving the biggest inventory of homes for sale since April 2009, when the total was 300,000.
The large supply of new homes contrasts that of existing homes for sale — which finished last year at a record low.
The latest new home inventory worked out to a 5.7-month supply.
