Newsroom
New-home sales rise in November, obscured by large downgrade
New-home sales rose 12.4 percent in November to 744,000 annualized units, while prior months saw a downward revision of 127,000 units. Compared to last year, November sales were 14 percent lower. NAFCU Chief Economist and Vice President of Research Curt Long analyzes the data in the latest Macro Data Flash report.
“New home sales rose solidly in November, but those gains were obscured by a combined 127,000 unit downgrade to prior month sales,” said Long. “This is the second consecutive month that the Census Bureau has made steep downward revisions to prior months, and the trend now looks much flatter as a result.”
November sales rose in three Census regions with the West rising 53.2 percent, followed by the Northeast (+15.6 percent), and the South (+2.7 percent). The Midwest region fell 25.4 percent on the month.
Based on current month sales, there were roughly 6.5 months of supply in November, down by 0.6 months compared to October. Unsold homes left on the market increased by 7,000 homes to 402,000 in November, representing a 39 percent increase from year-ago inventory levels.
“Homebuilder sentiment continued to climb through the end of the year and now sits at its highest level since February,” noted Long. “A potential rise in mortgage rates is a risk, but demand is strong and homebuilders hold all the cards in a market so short on supply.”
Of note, the median home price, non-seasonally adjusted, rose by 2 percent in November to $416,900, which is 18.8 percent higher than last year.
“The iShares US Home Construction ETF is up over 80 percent from two years ago. There is plenty of scope for more construction, but ongoing material delays plus builders' focus on the highest-yielding projects is preventing more needed supply from coming to market,” concluded Long. “The housing market in 2022 is unlikely to be fazed by Omicron or rate changes and should show steady sales gains with more above-trend price growth.”
For more economic updates from NAFCU's award-winning research team, view all of NAFCU's Macro Data Flash reports.
Share This
Related Resources
Add to Calendar 2024-05-03 14:00:00 2024-05-03 14:00:00 Plan Sponsor Attitudes Toward Retirement Plan Management and Fiduciary Outsourcing About the Webinar In January 2024, Pentegra conducted a survey of retirement plan sponsors and their perspectives on retirement plan management and fiduciary outsourcing. The survey measured how sponsors are using fiduciary outsourcing to help better manage their retirement plans. It also captured their perspectives on what outsourcing does to help them better position their plans and drive improved retirement plan outcomes. Key Takeaways: What is the full scope of your responsibilities as a plan sponsor? What is fiduciary outsourcing and how does it work? How does fiduciary outsourcing help reduce workloads and minimize risk? How can a credit union best position its plan to drive improved outcomes? Register Here Web NAFCU digital@nafcu.org America/New_York public
Plan Sponsor Attitudes Toward Retirement Plan Management and Fiduciary Outsourcing
preferred partner
Pentegra
Webinar
Ensuring Safety and Soundness with AI
Management, Consumer Lending, FinTech
preferred partner
Upstart
Blog Post
Turning Lemons into Lemonade: Capitalizing in a Post-Banking Crisis Era
Strategy
preferred partner
Allied Solutions
Blog Post
Add to Calendar 2024-05-02 14:00:00 2024-05-02 14:00:00 Mastering Resilience in Incident Response Plans About the Webinar An Incident Response (IR) plan is crucial for guiding credit unions through major incidents efficiently and effectively. However, many IR plans lack resilience, making them less adaptable to the evolving threat landscape. Join us for our webinar Mastering Resilience in Incident Response Plans where DefenseStorm cyber experts Elizabeth Houser and James Bruhl will delve into the importance of resiliency within cybersecurity IR plans. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to learn how to: Ensure IR plan accessibility so that all team members with assigned roles are prepared for effective incident response. Conduct efficient and regular reviews to ensure roles and responsibilities are current, tools are relevant, and compliance requirements are met. Implement and utilize tabletops to regularly test the effectiveness of your IR plan. Enhance preparedness, efficiency, and confidence among responders. View On-Demand Web NAFCU digital@nafcu.org America/New_York public
Mastering Resilience in Incident Response Plans
preferred partner
DefenseStorm
Webinar
Get daily updates.
Subscribe to NAFCU today.