Sales of new US homes sank to a record low in February and prices were the weakest since December 2003, showing the housing market slide was deepening. The Commerce Department said on Wednesday sales of new single-family homes dropped 16.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted 250,000 unit annual rate, the lowest since records began in 1963, after a 301,000-unit pace in January.
Median home price lowest since December 2003
Months' supply of homes highest in six months
Despite the surprise plunge in sales, economists did not believe a new downturn in the housing market was underway. An oversupply of homes exacerbated by an increasing flood of properties falling into foreclosure is frustrating recovery in the housing market. The housing market has remained on the periphery of the broader economy's expansion. However, residential construction has declined to about 2.3 percent gross domestic product from a peak of about 6 percent in 2005, so analysts do not see the sustained weakness in housing derailing the economic recovery.
Sales last month plunged to all-time lows in three of the four regions and surprised economists who had expected them to edged up to a 290,000 unit rate. The weak data weighed on home builder shares such Toll Brothers and D.R. Horton, and pulled US stocks down. Prices for US government debt were marginally lower, while the dollar up against a basket of currencies.
Compared to February last year sales dropped 28 percent. A report on Monday showed a steep drop in sales of previously owned homes in February, with prices tumbling to a near nine-year low. The median sales price for a new home plunged 13.9 percent last month to $202,100, the lowest since December 2003. Compared with February last year, the median price fell 8.9 percent.
Foreclosed properties typically sell well below market value, giving builders stiff competition and forcing them to hold back on new construction. At February's sales pace, the supply of new homes on the market rose to 8.9 months' worth, the highest since August, from 7.4 months' worth in January. There were 186,000 new homes available for sale last month, the smallest supply of home since 1967.
Despite lean inventories, new home sales will likely continue to bounce along the bottom for a while until the glut of previously owned homes is whittled down. New home sales account for less than 10 percent of overall sales. According to the National Association of Realtors, new home prices have been running 45 percent higher than existing home prices, a premium that is historically about 15 percent, indicating previously owned homes are selling well below the cost of construction.
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