While the seasonally adjusted pace of new single-family home sales in the U.S. ticked up 5.8 percent in November to an annualized rate of 640,000 sales, the pace was still 15.3 percent lower than at the same time last year, 26 percent lower than in 2020 and 8.0 percent below the pace of sales in November of 2019, prior to the pandemic having hit.
At the same time, mortgage loan application volume for new home purchases, which is a leading indicator, has yet to rebound and the average loan size has dropped.
And while the net number of new homes on the market ticked down 2 percent last month to 461,000, that’s 18 percent more inventory than at the same time last year, the second most new homes on the market since March of 2008, and 8.6 months of inventory, which technically represents a “strong buyer’s market” for those who like that stat.
