New home sales climb; selling prices still low
New home sales climbed 5.7 percent since August, but declined 0.9 percent below levels seen last year
This chart shows, in thousands, the annual number of new single family home sales since 2004. Despite increasing slightly since August 2011, numbers remain near record low levels.
SoldAtTheTop
Today, the U.S. Census Department released its monthly New Residential Home Sales Report for September showing a monthly increase with sales climbing 5.7% since August but declining 0.9% below the level seen in September of 2010 and remaining at an epically low level of 313K SAAR units.
It's important to recognize that the inventory of new homes has now fallen to a new series low at 163K units, lowest level seen in in at least 47 years while the median number of months for sale declined to 7.9.
The monthly supply remained declined to 6.2 months while the median selling price declined a notable 10.35% and the average selling price declined 9.93% from the year ago level.
The following chart show the extent of sales decline to date (click for full-larger version).