Newsroom

February 24, 2017

New-home sales up 3.7% in January

New-home sales increased 3.7 percent in January, reaching 555,000 annualized units, and rose 5.5 percent from a year ago. NAFCU Research Assistant Yun Cohen said in Friday's Macro Data Flash report that sales have been trending up gradually in recent years.

"However, affordability issues may be holding back sales as construction of new homes has leaned heavily toward the higher-priced segment of late," she added. "The headwinds for the housing market include inventory constraints and rising mortgage rates, but higher rates of household formation and a strong labor market should support modest sales growth in 2017."

Sales rose in three of the four regions in January. The Northeast has an increase of 15.8 percent, followed by the Midwest (+14.8 percent) and the South (+4.3 percent). The West saw a 4.4 percent decrease during the month.

Based on current-month sales, there were 5.7 months of supply in January, unchanged from December. The number of unsold homes left on the market rose from 256,000 to 265,000 units, which represents a 10.9 percent increase from a year ago.

The median new-home price, non-seasonally adjusted, decreased from $316,200 in December to $312,900 in January, according to the Census Bureau. January's prices were up 7.5 percent from a year prior.