The seasonally adjusted annual pace of new single-family home sales in the U.S. ticked up a nominal 0.7 percent in October to a rate of 458,000 sales as the September pace was downwardly revised from 467,000 to 455,000.
And while running at a pace which is only 1.8 percent higher than at the same time last year, keep in mind that the pace of new single-family home sales as measured in October has averaged 659,000 over the past 50 years and peaked at 1,336,000 in 2005.
The pace of new home sales in the West dropped 2.7 percent from September to October but is running 27.9 percent higher, year-over-year.
And in terms of inventory, the number of new single-family homes for sale in the U.S. is currently running 14.3 percent higher on a year-over-year basis, with the greatest number of new homes on the market (212,000) since 2010 but 57 percent fewer than in early 2008.
Still a very sluggish pace. There’s still a good overhang of property in some areas. They made houses faster than they made people back in 2005!