Briefing.com: New Home Sales

Updated: 25-Mar-25 10:30 ET

February New Home Sales

Updated: 25-Mar-25 10:30 ET

Highlights

New home sales increased 1.8% month-over-month in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 676,000 units (Briefing.com consensus 680,000) from an upwardly revised 664,000 (from 657,000) in January.
On a year-over-year basis, new home sales were up 5.1%.

Key Factors

The median sales price decreased 1.5% yr/yr to $414,500 while the average sales price decreased 4.4% to $487,100.
New home sales month-over-month/year-over-year by region: Northeast (-21.4%; -48.8%); Midwest (+20.6%; +2.7%); South (+6.6%; +19.0%); and West (-13.6%; -11.4%).
At the current sales pace, the supply of new homes for sale stood at 8.9 months, versus 9.0 months in January and 8.7 months in the year-ago period.
The percentage of new homes sold for $399,999 or less accounted for 49% of new homes sold versus 44% in January. Homes priced between $400,000 and $799,999 accounted for 45% of new homes sold versus 47% in January. New homes priced at $800,000 or over accounted for 7% of sales in February versus 10% in January.

Big Picture

The key takeaway from the report is that new home sales in February were aided by the drop in mortgage rates, yet affordability constraints remained a headwind as sales of higher-priced homes accounted for a smaller percentage of new home sales in February than the prior month.