Nation's Building News Online

New Home Sales on the Rise in September

With mortgage financing costs remaining low and the nation’s economy continuing to improve, sales of new single-family homes rose 3.5% in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.206 million units, the U.S. Commerce Department reported last week.

Sales in September were 7% stronger than during the same month a year earlier.

“With long-term mortgage rates below 6% and adjustable rate mortgages around 4%, buyers have had a powerful incentive to buy and we expect robust sales to continue in the coming months,” said NAHB President Bobby Rayburn.

The latest NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index, which is based on monthly surveys of single-family builders, indicated that there was a large turnout of prospective buyers at model homes and sales centers last month, Rayburn added.

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“Economic conditions — low mortgage rates, healthy income and employment growth and solid house price performance — continue to invigorate demand,” said NAHB Chief Economist David Seiders. “We certainly remain on track to have another record year in 2004.”

New home sales increased 12.3% in the Midwest, 6% in the Northeast and 2.7% in the South. They were down a slight 0.8% in the West.

There were 404,000 units in September’s inventory of unsold new homes, representing a 4.1-month supply at the current sales pace, and that was a slight improvement from the preceding month.
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