The seasonally adjusted pace of new single-family home sales in the U.S. dropped 7.8 percent last month, from an annual pace of 643,000 sales in December to 593,000 in January, and is now running 1.0 percent lower versus the same time last year and 8.6 percent below its long-term average.
At the same time, the number of new single-family homes for sale across the county inched up to 301,000 in January, which is the most available inventory since the first quarter of 2009 and 15.3 percent higher than at the same time last year.
And out West, the annual pace of new single-family home sales inched up 1.0 percent in January to 193,000 and is currently running 33.1 percent versus the same time last year.