US new-home sales unexpectedly increased in March to the highest level in a year, suggesting an easing in mortgage rates is helping the housing market find some footing. A joint report from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and the US Census Bureau revealed that new home sales rose for the fourth month in a row, with sales of newly constructed homes up 9.6% from February.
Mortgage rates were down 3.4% from a year ago, but as uncertainty moved through the financial industry due to bank failures in mid-March, rates fell during the rest of the month. Prices of new homes rose from February, and the median price for a new home rose to $449,800 in March. This is a supply of 7.6 months at the current sales pace, down from 8.2 months of supply last month.
Americans purchased far more new homes than expected in March, pushing sales up to their fastest rate since before Federal Reserve rate hikes began one year ago. Sales of single-family homes reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 683,000; this was not only 9.6 percent higher than February's revised rate (623,000), but also marked its highest point since March 2022 when it stood at an annualized figure of 707,000 units sold.
Increased builder confidence has come alongside these figures – according to National Association Home Builders (NAHB) reports published earlier this April – which suggest that inventory shortages among previously owned houses on sale have contributed significantly toward boosting demand for brand-new properties instead.
Many homeowners who locked low mortgage interest rates prior to dramatic rises throughout last year are now reluctant about selling their existing residences because they would face steeper costs upon purchasing another property afterward.
Regional data reveals that home-sales growth occurred across various areas: soaring by as much as 170.8% in the Northeast, vaulting by 29.8% in the South, and rising by 6% each within both Western and Midwestern territories.
In March, the median new house price reached $449,800 – a year-on-year increase of about 3.2%. Single-family housing starts also rose for two consecutive months at that time; furthermore, permit applications for future construction projects attained their highest level over a five-month period recently.
While banks have tightened lending standards somewhat throughout this process – analysts still believe that such developments indicate that recovering from the housing market's recent downturn may already be underway.
US Homebuilder Incentives Soar (At High-End) reported a considerable surge in home sales during March: up to approximately 9.6%, thereby lifting SAAR to its highest point since March last year after Census Bureau findings were published. This data came even as numbers regarding houses sold (but not yet started) continued climbing sharply; specifically reaching around168K units compared with February's total of149K homes available on record – which was itself considered unusually high back then due to previously low supply levels being surpassed only recently