Today, the U.S. Census Department released its monthly New Residential Home Sales Report for March showing an acceleration of the deterioration in demand for new residential homes across every tracked region resulting in a 36.63% year-over-year decline and a truly whopping 62.13% peak sales decline nationally.Additionally, sales declined significantly on a month-to-month and year-over-year basis both nationally and across every region resulting in a median selling price decline of a whopping 13.33%.
It’s important to keep in mind that these dramatic declines are coming on the back of the significant declines seen in 2006 and 2007 further indicating the enormity of the housing bust and clearly dispelling any notion of a bottom being reached.
Additionally, although inventories of unsold homes have been dropping for twelve straight months, the sales volume has been declining so significantly that the sales pace has now stands at an astonishing 11.0 months of supply.
The following charts show the extent of sales declines seen since 2005 as well as illustrating how the further declines in 2008 are coming on top of the 2006 and 2007 results (click for larger versions)
Look at the following summary of today’s report:National
- The median price for a new home was down 13.33% as compared to March 2007.
- New home sales were down 36.6% as compared to March 2007.
- The inventory of new homes for sale declined 14.6% as compared to March 2007.
- The number of months’ supply of the new homes has increased 32.5% as compared to March 2007 and now stands at 11.0 months.
- In the Northeast, new home sales were down 64.6% as compared to March 2007.
- In the Midwest, new home sales were down 50.0% as compared to March 2007.
- In the South, new home sales were down 25.9% as compared to March 2007.
- In the West, new home sales were down 39.3% as compared to March 2007.
