Housing Bubble

New home sales up 7.3 percent

April 25, 2003

Sales of new one-family houses in March 2003 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,012,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 7.3 percent above the revised February rate of 943,000 and is 10.6 percent above the March 2002 estimate of 915,000.

The upward revision to the February rate is a result of more late home sales in the month than the department estimated. The February rate had been estimated to represent a fall of 8.1 percent.

The median sales price of new houses sold in March 2003 was $182,000; the average sales price was $229,900. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of March was 339,000. This represents a supply of 4.1 months at the current sales rate.

Source: United States Department of Commerce