The seasonally adjusted pace of new single-family home sales in the U.S. dropped nearly 5 percent last month and was down over 6 percent on a year-over-year basis and over 18 percent lower than in early 2020, prior to the pandemic having hit. Or as we outlined last month, “a leading indicator of new sales activity [had] dropped” (despite others’ (mis)reports of a “surge”).
At the same time, the median sale price of the new homes sold last month dropped 1.4 percent to $433,500 in April, from $439,500 in March, and was nearly 13 percent below its 2022-era peak but 3.9 percent higher than at the same time last year with an uptick in higher-end sales, with inventory levels, which are now 50 percent higher than prior to the pandemic, having ticked up to a higher 16-year high, despite continued misreporting of “supply constraints” in the press, none of which should catch any plugged-in reader’s by surprise.
