Sales of existing single-family homes increased 11.1% to an annual rate of 300,000 units in March after an upwardly revised reading for February (270,000 vs. 250,000 in earlier report). The largest gain in sales of single-family homes was registered in the Northeast (+66.7%) followed by the West (+25.9%) and Midwest (+12.9%) and a virtually unchanged level in the South. The important take away from Chart 1 is that the level of homes sales is barely higher than the record low of 270,000 units registered in February 2011.
The median price of a new single-family home rose 3.0% during March from the prior month to 3,800. On a year-to-year basis, the median price of a new single-family home declined 4.9% in March.
The inventory of unsold new single-family homes fell to 7.3-month supply in March from 8.2 months in February. The long-term average for inventories of unsold homes is 6.2 months. The latest monthly reduction in the number of homes available for sales is noteworthy.
Combined sales of new and existing homes rose 4.4% to an annual rate of 4.75 million units in March (see Chart 4). Sustained strong growth in employment and output is necessary to pull the housing sector out of a slump.
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