Housing Bubble

New home sales up 1.7 percent on April

May 27, 2003

Sales of new one-family houses in April 2003 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,028,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 1.7 percent (±8.6%) above the revised March rate of 1,011,000 and is 12.2 percent (±11.0%) above the April 2002 estimate of 916,000.

The median sales price of new houses sold in April 2003 was $185,100. The average sales price rose marginally to $235,000 from $231,100.

The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of April was 338,000. This represents a supply of 3.9 months at the current sales rate, a fall from 4.1 months in March. This is the lowest inventory number since September 2002.

Three of the four regions showed gains in sales with the Midwest posting the largest gain at 13.4 percent to a rate 186,000. The West saw a 4.3 percent increase, to 267,000 while the South recoded just a 0.6 percent gain to a 487,000 annual sales pace. Sales fell 17.8 percent in the Northeast to an 88,000 annual rate.

Source: Census Bureau New Residential Construction