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New Home Sales Slide Further in November
Sales of newly built single-family homes declined 2.9% in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 407,000 units, the U.S. Commerce Department reported on Dec. 23. This was the slowest sales pace reported since January 1991.
“The fact that new-home sales continue to decline even in the face of substantial builder incentives, very favorable mortgage rates and improved housing affordability shows how fearful consumers have become about making a home purchase in the current economic environment,” said NAHB Chairman Sandy Dunn. “That’s why it is absolutely necessary for the government to take action that will reassure home buyers and stimulate demand in order to help revive home sales and economic growth.”
“Today’s numbers clearly indicate continuing downward momentum in home sales activity, particularly in light of Commerce’s substantial downward revisions to new-home sales numbers in the past three months,” said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. “Sales of new homes are down 11.2% to date for the fourth quarter of 2008 compared to the third quarter,” he said.
“Meanwhile, our builder members are reporting worsening market conditions and sales expectations going forward, despite doing everything they can to get sales moving again and making progress in terms of reducing their inventories of unsold product,” Crowe said. “The reality is that more needs to be done. Government interventions in the form of an enhanced home buyer tax credit and a mortgage-rate buy-down have worked before, and can work again, to reassure buyers, kick-start demand and help turn the economy back in the right direction.”
The inventory of new homes for sale declined for the 19th consecutive month in November to 374,000 units, down from 402,000 units in October. The months’ supply at the current sales pace declined to 11.5 from a revised 11.8 in October, which was a record high.
Regionally, new-home sales were mixed in November, with two regions posting gains and two posting declines. The Northeast and West each regained some ground, with 14.3% and 11% increases, respectively, while the Midwest and South posted declines of 16.4% and 7.1%. All four regions were down by more than 25% on a year-over-year basis.
 Construction Forecast Conference Webcast Available
An on-demand webcast of the 2008 Fall Construction Forecast Conference is available for purchase.
The webcast fee includes access to the webcast archive and electronic copies of the conference handout and presentation materials. Multiple viewers in one office can purchase the webcast for one fee.
The on-demand webcast also gives viewers complete flexibility in their viewing experience — pause, skip forward and backward, or jump directly to your topics of interest.
To purchase and download the webcast, click here.
 Want to Know the Housing Forecast for the Top 100 Metros?
Find out in HousingEconomic.com’s 2008 to 2009 Metro Forecast (free preview).
Get the metro forecast with in-depth analysis, overviews and downloadable Excel tables.
To learn more, visit www.HousingEconomics.com.
 Free NAHB Kit Gives Builders Back-to-Basics Tips to Navigate the Slowdown
What was once expected to be a relatively mild housing slump following three years of record new home construction and sales has given way to a significant downturn.
To help members navigate the uncharted waters of this slowdown, NAHB has compiled a comprehensive “Back to Basics” online toolkit — the best of the basics, the tried and true and the truly new. To access the toolkit, click here.
To access the “Back to Basics” toolkit, you must be an NAHB member and have a login to www.nahb.org. To create a login, go to www.nahb.org/login or click on the log-in button on the main menu bar.
For assistance, call the NAHB Member Service Center at 800-368-5242.
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